Federer storms into Australian Open second round

Georgia’s Nikoloz Basilashvili hits a shot during his first round match against Switzerland’ …

“That was a good match”. “I think, as all the players taking part in this year’s first Grand Slam, I would like to do the best as I can and fight for the trophy”.

“You know, I let her back into the match, and it was basically my own fault that I’m not here as the victor”, the downcast Dane told reporters.

“I had some decent matches in Brisbane, but it was all under sort of a cloud knowing that I wasn’t 100 percent. So Novak might be a small piece of the puzzle, but I’m more focused about my own game than any other player”. “So it was nice to play that way”.

To the relief of his many fans, and no doubt to the tournament organisers, Federer looked a very different player from the flu-affected one who made errors galore in losing the Brisbane final. He broke the Georgian eight times in a dominating performance and maintained his record of never having lost in the first round in Melbourne in 17 appearances. (The BBC will broadcast its report on Tuesday.) In the report, the Tennis Integrity Unit — which was set up in 2008 to investigate match fixing — was warned about 16 players ranked inside the top 50 at some point, including former singles and doubles Grand Slam winners.

Federer’s next opponent will be the quirky shotmaker Dolgopolov, who he practiced with during the off-season. “I’ve practiced with Dolgopolov in the off-season in Dubai”. “I am very happy”.

Nishikori struggled with a series of injuries previous year, but said he was feeling sharp after his first match in Melbourne.

American teenager Noah Rubin claimed the scalp of one of only two seeds to go out-No22 Ivo Karlovic retired in the third set-in his first tour-level win, beating No17 Benoit Paire 7-6(4), 7-6(6), 7-6(5).

The damning report alleged that the TIU failed to impose sanctions on players involved in match-fixing and claimed that more than half of the players involved in such activities would be playing in the Australian Open, which started Monday.

“He’s been there before”.

“He’s got the fitness, the power, the speed, tennis IQ, all that”.

Kei Nishikori, Tomas Berdych and Australia’s Nick Kyrgios also went through without significant problems, while Caroline Wozniacki was the biggest casualty on day one.