Roger Federer escapes the heat in easy win over Nikoloz Basilashvili

Roger Federer has called for tennis to act against match-fixing after news broke of suspicious betting patterns.

“Then at least it’s concrete stuff and you can actually debate about it. In the last six, seven years, I haven’t heard anything similar”. Was it the support team? The allegations include the claim that a singles grand-slam champion is among the players implicated – a real bombshell if true – although they can be shrugged off for the moment while the precise identities remain unclear. It’s nonsense to answer something that is pure speculation. It’s like I can always train more.

“As long as we don’t know the outcome, the players, fans, it’s going to be exciting. That’s why it’s super important to keep it clean”.

Asked if tennis authorities could do more to prevent fixing, Federer said: “You can always do more”.

“There’s more pressure on these people now maybe because of this story, which is a good thing”.

Other questions were raised Monday about whether the sport was sending mixed messages by allowing the bookmaker William Hill to become one of the Australian Open’s sponsors this year and advertise on stadium courts.

The Swiss third seed crushed the Georgian 6-2, 6-1, 6-2 in just 72 minutes and will play Ukraine’s Aleksandr Dolgopolov in the second round.

Federer raced through the match in just one hour and 10 minutes as he showed all the class and talent which has taken him to the very top of the game.

Spared the sweltering conditions of the day session, Federer barely raised a sweat in hammering Basilashvili, sending 31 winners whistling past the 117th-ranked Georgian.

“That was a good match”, said Federer after the win at the Rod Laver Arena.

The 34-year-old was sick at this month’s Brisbane International, where he lost the final in straight sets to Canada’s Milos Raonic. “I mean, I had some decent matches in Brisbane, but it was all under, you know, sort of a cloud knowing that I wasn’t 100 percent”.

“It definitely gives me a bit of a lift and confidence”.