Top seed and five-time champion Roger Federer returned to the Gerry Weber Open, and extended his Halle winning streak to 26 straight matches as he defeated Finland’s Jarkko Nieminen 6-4, 6-4 on Tuesday.

Federer saved all three break points faced in the first set, and dropped just three points behind his serve in the second. He needed just one service break in each set to clinch the 63-minute victory and improve to a perfect 11-0 record against Nieminen.

Watch Federer vs Nieminen Highlights

“I think that any surface change actually has something nice about it,” said Federer about playing on grass. “Grass is the most special one because we only play one month on it. So, every day you get a chance to play on this surface is somewhat a special day, because it’s so rare and it’s so different to the other ones.”

The 28-year-old Swiss has been invincible in Halle since a loss in the 2002 semi-finals (l. to Kiefer). He won the title at the grass-court ATP World Tour 250 tournament from 2003-06 and on his return in ’08.

Federer was making his first appearance ranked World No. 2 since the week of 29 June, 2009, after being overtaken by Roland Garros champion Rafael Nadal in the South African Airways 2010 ATP Rankings.

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Second seed Nikolay Davydenko made a winning return after a near two-month lay-off due to a left wrist injury. The Russian converted four of 13 break point opportunities for a 7-6(1), 6-0 win over Simon Greul of Germany in one hour and 35 minutes. It was his first match since the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells in mid-March. He improved to a 15-3 match record on the season. (Watch highlights)

“Maybe it helped me that I won the tie-break; I just relaxed, my muscles relaxed, I got more concentration, wasn’t so nervous and played better and better,” he said. “That was helping me. It’s not about practicing. Practicing is different, I can beat everyone, but in matches it’s a different situation. I did play very well and I feel it’s helping me to come back.”

German wild card Nicolas Kiefer recorded his first tour-level win in seven months on Tuesday. Kiefer, the 1999 champion and 2002-03 finalist, recorded his fourth straight win against third-seeded Russian Mikhail Youzhny 4-6, 6-1, 7-5 victory in two hours and eight minutes.

The World No. 181 hit 19 aces and won 72 per cent of service points to improve to 25-12 lifetime at the ATP World Tour 250 grass-court tennis tournament. (Watch highlights)

“I had a good feeling coming into the match but you never know what’s going to happen in the match,” said Kiefer, “So, I was looking forward to play good tennis. Today, I served very good, especially in the big moments. I had many good news over the last few weeks, yesterday. So, it also gave me the confidence.”

Youzhny, an ATP World Tour titlist at the BMW Open in Munich (d. Cilic) and runner-up at the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament in Rotterdam (l. to Soderling) and the Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships (l. to Djokovic), dropped to a 25-9 match record on the year.

Kiefer will next challenge fellow compatriot and wild card Andreas Beck who, despite hitting nine double faults, managed to defeat Sergiy Stakhovsky of the Ukraine 6-1, 7-5 in 86 minutes.

Beck said of facing his countryman: “We are both looking forward to tomorrow’s match. We trained together a lot the past days and know each other’s games on grass now. It’s nice that one German will definitely make it to the quarters.”

Two other Germans also advanced, with 2008 finalist Philipp Kohlschreiber overcoming Belgian lucky loser Ruben Bemelmans 7-6(2), 6-7(10), 6-4 and wild card Mischa Zverev dispatching Frenchman Florent Serra 6-4, 6-4.  (Watch Kohlschreiber vs Bemelmans Highlights)

Bemelmans had stepped in as a late replacement for Radek Stepanek after the fifth-seeded Czech withdrew with a virus infection, and Kohlschreiber admitted with a laugh afterwards, “I don’t want to say that I Googled him but I did ask what my opponent looks like to avoid talking to him before the match and saying something like ‘now I’m going to play some lucky loser’, not knowing that it’s him.”

Kohlschreiber, who has reached the semi-finals or better in his past three Halle appearances, next confronts Marco Chiudinelli. The Swiss No. 3, who trains in Halle, advanced with a 6-3, 2-6, 6-3 win over Belgian Olivier Rochus.

“He is one of the favourites here,” Chiudinelli said of his next opponent. “He never won but almost every year he made it to the semis… If I serve well – that will be important – I will surely have my chances, at least I hope so.”

In the final match Tuesday, Roland Garros semi-finalist Jurgen Melzer of Austria rallied past Russian qualifier Alexandre Kudryavtsev 3-6, 7-6(2), 6-2. (Watch highlights)