World tennis No 1 Roger Federer took his first steps toward a fifth grand slam title today, cruising through his first round match at the Australian Open.
Federer, the defending champion, beat Fabrice Santoro of France 6-1 6-1 6-2.
As well as the Australian Open crown he won last year,
Federer also holds the Wimbledon and US Open titles -- and is a firm favourite to win again here.
In today's match he had Santoro's measure from the opening game, hammering home the advantage over an opponent who appeared to be affected by illness.
Results of men's singles first round matches at the Australian Open tennis championship here today (prefix number denotes seeding):
1-Roger Federer (Switzerland) bt Fabrice Santoro (France) 6-1 6-1 6-2, 20-Dominik Hrbaty (Slovakia) bt Robin Soderling (Sweden) 6-4 6-2 1-0 retired, 22-Ivan Ljubicic (Croatia) bt Luis Horna (Peru) 6-4 6-3 6-3, 28-Mario Ancic (Croatia) bt Oscar Hernandez (Spain) 6-3 6-2 6-1, Tomas Zib (Czech Republic) bt Wang Yeu-Tzuoo (Taiwan) 7-6 6-2 6-4, Marcos Baghdatis (Cyprus) bt Federico Luzzi (Italy) 6-1 3-6 6-1 3-6 6-3, Bjorn Phau (Germany) bt Albert Costa (Spain) 6-3 7-6 6-3
Serena Williams made a successful return to Melbourne with a no-nonsense 6-1 6-1 defeat of French tennis player Camille Pin in the first round of the Australian Open here today.
The American seventh seed won here in 2003 but was unable to defend her title last year because of a knee injury.
Dressed in a white skirt and fluorescent green shoes and top, the former world No 1 eased past Pin in 57 minutes on centre court.
An occasionally rusty Williams broke Pin in the second and fourth games of the first set but then dropped her own serve in the fifth.
The pair swapped service breaks again at the start of the second set before Williams powered away to set up a second round meeting with Madagascan Dally Randriantefy or Czech qualifier Zuzana Ondraskova.
Results of women's singles first round tennis matches at the Australian Open here today (prefix denotes seeding):-
7-Serena Williams (US) bt Camille Pin (France) 6-1 6-1, 5-Svetlana Kuznetsova (Russia) bt Jessica Kirkland (US) 6-1 6-1, 15-Silvia Farina Elia (Italy) bt Julia Schruff (Germany) 6-3 6-4, 17-Fabiola Zuluaga (Colombia) bt Selima Sfar (Tunisia) 6-3 7-5, Petra Mandula (Hungary) bt 30-Flavia Pennetta (Italy) 3-6 6-1 6-3, Evgenia Linetskaya (Russia) bt Lubomira Kurhajcova (Slovakia) 6-4 6-1, Martina Sucha (Slovakia) bt 16-Ai Sugiyama (Japan) 7-5 6-4, Sania Mirza (India) bt Cindy Watson (Australia) 3-6 6-3 6-0, Elena Baltacha (Britain) bt Katarina Srebotnik (Slovenia) 5-7 6-4 6-4, Marion Bartoli (France) bt Claudine Schaul (Luxembourg) 6-1 6-3, Alina Jidkova (Russia) bt Virginia Ruano Pascual (Spain) 4-6 6-1 6-4, Anna-Lena Groenefeld (Germany) bt Severine Beltrame (France) 6-1 6-3 - REUTERS, AAP
Tennis: Federer, Williams through in Melbourne first round
World tennis No 1 Roger Federer took his first steps toward a fifth grand slam title today, cruising through his first round match at the Australian Open.
Federer, the defending champion, beat Fabrice Santoro of France 6-1 6-1 6-2.
As well as the Australian Open crown he won last year,
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