Melbourne: Defending champion Roger Federer dazzled under the Australian Open lights to waltz through to the second round with a straight sets win over Aljaz Bedene at the Melbourne Park here, Tuesday even as Novak Djokovic and Stan Wawrinka notched up easy victories on their comeback from injuries.
The ageless Swiss marvel, seeded second thrilled the Rod Laver Arena crowd with a virtuoso performance as he cruised to a 6-3, 6-4, 6-3 win in 99 minutes and will next play German Jan-Lennard Struff. It improved his Australian Open record to 88-13 in his 19th campaign Down Under.
“My dream was always to play a long time on tour and we had a few guys playing a long time and I think that inspired me,” he said post-match.
Federer won the first set in 26 minutes against the Slovenian and claimed the second on his fourth set point as Bedene raised his level.
The Swiss great thrilled the centre court night crowd with an exquisite curving forehand down the line and past Bedene for another service break early in the final set. It was signature Federer and he closed out the match with a signature forehand cross-court winner.
Six-time champion here, Djokovic looked the part as he powered to a 6-1, 6-2, 6-4 against American Donald Young with the match lasting 111 minutes.
Even though the Serbian former World No.1 one has been out of action for six months he looked in good shape. He will next play Frenchman Gael Monfils a 6-3, 7-5(7-5), 6-4 winner over Spanish qualifier Jaume Munar.
Djokovic, wearing a flesh-coloured protective guard on his right serving elbow, saluted the cheering crowd as he won on his sixth match point.
It was an impressive performance, with the Serb breaking Young’s left-handed serve six times, hitting 33 winners and conceding only 27 unforced errors.
“There is no better place to start than here in Australia, I love coming here, I love playing here,” Djokovic told the crowd. “I wanted to start with the right intensity, which I have, played perfect tennis in the first couple of sets.”
Wawrinka however, had to suffer a third set meltdown before winning 6-3, 6-4, 2-6, 7-6(7/2) against Lithuania’s Ricardas Berankis in 167 minutes on the Hisense Arena. He admitted that he still felt pain in the knee, but it was getting better.
The Swiss star, who defeated Rafael Nadal to win the 2014 Australian Open, has slipped to nine in the world rankings, having not played since his first round Wimbledon loss to Russian Daniil Medvedev six months ago.
But Wawrinka seemed upbeat after his win. “It’s great to be back. It’s great to win, for sure,” stated the Swiss. “It (The match) was a tough one and I am happy that my knee stood the test.
Other results
Fernando Verdasco bt Roberto Bautista Agut 6-1, 7-5, 7-5
Lukas Lacko bt Milos Raonic 6-7, 7-5, 6-4, 7-6
Sam Querrey bt Feliciano Lopez 6-3, 6-4, 6-2
Alexander Zverev bt Thomas Fabbiano 6-1, 7-6, 7-5
Tomas Berdych bt Alex de Minaur 6-3, 3-6, 6-0, 6-1
Dominic Thiem bt Guido Pella 6-4, 6-4, 6-4
Agencies
