Roger Federer opened his Swiss Indoors campaign on Monday with a 6-4 6-2 first-round win over Frenchman Adrian Mannarino at his home town of Basel.
The five-time Basel champion needs to put up superhuman efforts this week as well as next week's Paris Masters to secure one of four spots remaining in the eight-man field at the season-ending World Tour Finals in London next month.
Federer, seeded third behind holder Juan Martin del Potro and Czech Tomas Berdych, is duelling for a London berth with compatriot and US Open finalist Stanislas Wawrinka, who stands a provisional seventh in the points race with his famed compatriot a mere five points adrift in eighth.
"I played well enough for a first round," said Federer, who improved his record in Basel to 48-8.
"I'm entirely confident about my plan. I want to make something happen. I only need for my back (which bothered him in the summer) not to let me down.
"It's great be back in Basel; I get so much energy from this crowd.
"I'm concentrating on playing well and hoping to qualify for London."
The Swiss star will face Uzbekistan's Denis Istomin or Argentina's Horacio Zeballos in the second round.
The 32-year-old, accorded a warm reception when he walked onto court, lost his service once before taking the first set against his French rival ranked 62 in the world.
The 17-time grand slam winner moved up a gear in the second set, breaking twice to wrap up the match in just one hour and 11 minutes.
Federer on Sunday recognised he had made serious errors in his planning which have contributed to a disastrous 2013 and he split last week from long-time coach Paul Annacone.
Having won only one ATP title this year, in Halle, he is at risk of missing the World Tour Finals which he has won six times.
He insists that despite his fall, retirement is not on the horizon.
In other Basel first-round matches, German Tobias Kamke beat Victor Hanescu of Romania 6-4 6-4, Alexandr Dolgopolov of Ukraine downed Frenchman Kenny De Schepper by the same scoreline and Poland's Lukasz Kubot beat Daniel Gimeno-Traver of Spain 7-6 (8-6) 6-2.
