Federer cruises in 1st round; Isner out Down Under

Published January 08, 2015

Melbourne, Australia (SportsNetwork.com) - The great Roger Federer was an easy winner Tuesday in first-round action at a scorching hot Australian Open.

Federer, relegated to the No. 6 seed in the year's first major, dominated Australian James Duckworth, 6-4, 6-4, 6-2, in a mere one hour, 46 minutes at Rod Laver Arena.

The Swiss legend, who owns a record 17 major titles, is looking to win for a fifth time in Melbourne and first since 2010.

Three-time Australian Open runner-up and second-seeded Andy Murray made short work of Go Soeda, routing him 6-1, 6-1, 6-3, while last week's Sydney champion and fifth-seeded Juan Martin Del Potro was a 6-7, 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 winner over Rhyne Williams.

Winning the Auckland title last week may have taken too much out of 13th- seeded John Isner. The highest-seeded American lost his first two sets to Slovak Martin Klizan and eventually retired because of a foot injury. Isner did not appear in last year's Open due to a bone bruise in his right knee.

Fans sat through temperatures that reached well over 100 degrees and watched local favorite Lleyton Hewitt fall to 24th-seeded Andreas Seppi, 7-6 (7-4), 6-3, 5-7, 5-7, 7-5. Hewitt was making his 18th straight appearance in the event.

Former Aussie runner-up Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, seeded 10th this year, cruised past Filippo Volandri, 7-5, 6-3, 6-3, while 11th-seeded Canadian Milos Raonic downed Daniel Gimeno-Traver, 7-6 (7-2), 6-1, 4-6, 6-2.

Sixteenth-seed Kei Nishikori of Japan outlasted Marinko Matosevic, 6-3, 5-7, 6-2, 4-6, 6-2 in three hours, 41 minutes, and No. 22 Grigor Dimitrov defeated Bradley Klahn, 6-7 (7-9), 6-4, 6-4, 6-3.

Other seeded winners on Day 2 at Melbourne Park included: No. 26 Feliciano Lopez, No. 27 Benoit Paire and No. 31 Fernando Verdasco.

Lucky loser Stephane Robert, who was a late entry due to 21st-seeded Philipp Kohlschreiber pulling out with a strained left hamstring, took advantage of his good fortune as the Frenchman downed Aljaz Bedene, 7-6 (7-3), 6-3, 6-0.

Nick Kyrgios, Roberto Bautista, Michael Berrer, Teymuraz Gabashvili, Blaz Kavcic, Thomaz Bellucci, Michal Przysiezny, Blaz Rola, Victor Hanescu, Yen- Hsun Lu, and Dusan Lajovic also moved on to the second round with wins on Tuesday.

Novak Djokovic beat Murray in last year's final to nail down a third straight championship at the first Grand Slam event of the year.

URL

https://www.foxnews.com/sports/federer-cruises-in-1st-round-isner-out-down-under