Roger Federer has opened his Australian Open defence with a by-the-numbers straight-sets win over unlucky Slovakian Lukas Lacko. Last year the short-straw drawing world No.97 ran into then defending champion Rafael Nadal in the second round, this year he drew Federer in the first. Anybody hoping for an upset at Rod Laver Arena quickly had their hopes extinguished as the world No.2 broke Lacko in the fourth game, regularly running around his backhand to take most balls on his forehand.
It was textbook stuff from the Swiss Maestro as he racked up his 43rd straight-sets win from 62 matches at Melbourne Park. “I thought I played great,” Federer told journalists following the win. “I was able to keep on pressing, you know, put him on the back foot … That it worked was obviously great. But at the end, I’m obviously very happy.” The first set lasted just 22 minutes as Federer iced it 6-1.
In the second, Federer was relentless. Opening with a break of serve, Lacko must have been wondering who he’d upset to run into the defending champions two years in a row. Cruising at 3-0, Lacko dared to steal a break back from Federer. Unperturbed, the second seed shrugged it off as he reeled off the next three games to take the second set 6-1. It was going to take something superhuman from Lacko to work his way back into this match. But it wasn’t forthcoming.
Lacko stuck with Federer for the first six games of the third set, but in the eighth game, the net-rushing Federer got the break he was searching for. “For me it was no surprise he started, you know, to get into the match at one stage in the third set. You know, I thought it was a good match. I don’t think he played too bad himself. I saw some talent in him, too, and that’s why I think I was really happy I chose that tactics early on to pressure him.” And with a minimum of fuss, Federer calmly served out the match to stroll into the second round where he will face either Gilles Simon or Yen-Hsun Lu.
Simon is one of the few players who holds a positive record over Federer, winning both matches they played in 2008. Despite this, Federer says it won’t affect his preparation should Simon get through the first round. ‘No, it doesn’t affect my preparation. You know, maybe I’ll look into - if I do play him; if he was to win - if I do play him, maybe I will look just a bit more into what has worked and what has not worked against him in the past. Obviously, it’s up to Paul [Annacone] and Severin [Luthi] to give me advice on how to play him. Then it’s up to me to, you know, mentally try to forget those matches or remember the good things I did, because both matches we did play against each other were close.”
