Top seed Roger Federer showed signs of ring rust in his first match at the Swiss Indoors on Tuesday but still had enough in the tank to push past unseeded Serbian Filip Krajinovic 6-2, 4-6, 6-4 and reach the last 16 in Basel.

Playing in front of his home fans, Federer struggled to find his usual precision, racking up 38 unforced errors, but still managed some produced his usual array of dazzling winners i a contest which stretched just past the two-hour mark.

The 37-year-old Swiss, who once served as a ball boy at the Swiss Indoors Basel, won his 16th consecutive match in Basel, only defeated by Juan Martin del Potro in 2013 final. 

"It's no problem to play a three-set this time, I will have a day off tomorrow. " Federer said.

Next up for the world No.3, an eight-time Basel champion, is Germany's Jan-Lennard Struff, who beat Australian John Millman 7-6(3), 6-2.

Federer maintains a winning record this year at the Australian Open and Wimbledon with Jan-Lennard Struff.

Russian seventh seed Daniil Medvedev also reached the last 16 by defeating German Maximilian Marterer 6-3, 7-5.

Medvedev, winner of this month's Japan Open as a qualifier, faces unseeded Italian Andreas Seppi next after he served up the day's only bagel en route to beating Japanese qualifier Taro Daniel 6-0, 6-4.