Federer And Wawrinka Fight Into Second Round In Melbourne

MELBOURNE, January 16, 2017

Roger Federer made a winning return to the courts, celebrating a 7-5, 3-6, 6-2, 6-2 first round victory at the Australian Open against Austrian veteran Jürgen Melzer. The 35-year-old appeared in his first competitive match in six months after injuring his knee.

“I thought my serve was on and off in the beginning, which surprised me a little bit, because in practice, Hopman Cup, it’s been going pretty well,” Federer told after the two hours and five minutes encounter.

“I think there were definitely some nerves there. I was feeling nervous once the match actually started. I was actually fine all day, warming up, in the warmup five minutes with Jurgen. I felt fine. Then I hit four frames in a row. It was like, Whew, it’s not as easy as I thought it was going to be. I struggled for a while to find that groove, that rhythm and everything. Then you remind yourself how many times has it not been easy in the first round. Almost every time, except you get off a flyer and you keep rolling. But that’s not the whole time. So you got to work. I’m happy I was made to work today. Actually at the end I’m quite happy how I ended, which is most important.”

Federer will next take on Noah Rubin from the Unites States.

“I do not know much about him. I know he’s a baseliner. He makes a lot of shots. I guess it’s not a bad thing for me. I know it’s probably more on my racquet rather than playing a big server. I got to manage any kind of player in this draw to move forward,” Federer stated.

Wawrinka Overcomes Klizan

Fellow Swiss and world number four Stan Wawrinka had to go the distance to beat Martin Klizan 4-6, 6-4, 7-5, 4-6, 6-4.

There was a dramatic moment in the final set when Wawrinka fired a volley at a defenceless Slovakian, who had conceded the point after a rally and was standing at the net. The Swiss fourth seed quickly jumped over the net to offer his apologies as Klizan sunk to his haunches in pain.

“That was, for sure, a tough shot for him. The thing is there are some players they fake you, and you stop playing and then they just put up the racquet,” Wawrinka said.

“So for me I already miss some easy ones. For me the most important thing was to run straight over to him. I just wanted to make sure he was okay. I realized he was okay.”

Wawrinka will next play US-American Steve Johnson.

DAY 1 Highlights:

No.4 seed Simona Halep crashes out to Shelby Rogers
Nick Kyrgios takes just 85 minutes to fire past Gastao Elias
Stan Wawrinka, Marin Cilic and Kei Nishikori all survive five-set battles
World No.1’s Angelique Kerber and Andy Murray toil, but move through
Roger Federer returns to competitive tennis with a win

Official Day/Night Attendance: 72,424

This is a record first Monday Day/Night attendance

Previous attendance record was set at Australian Open 2015: 71,171

Federer And Wawrinka Fight Into Second Round In Melbourne

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