Roger Federer eases past Steve Johnson to book Australian Open second round spot

Focus: Roger Federer was in superb form to beat Steve Johnson.
Getty Images
Joe Krishnan20 January 2020

Roger Federer turned in a flawless performance to brush aside Steve Johnson and reach the second round of the Australian Open.

The Swiss veteran was in fine form throughout, proving far too good for his American opponent, and required just 50 minutes to take a two-set lead.

And the no. 3 seed wasted no time in sealing a straight sets victory, eventually strolling to a 6-3, 6-2, 6-2 triumph in just an hour and 21 minutes on court.

In his first match since November after taking a break following the ATP Finals, the 38-year-old was looking in pristine condition.

Federer can be accused sometimes of starting slowly but not on this occasion. He broke early in the first and repeated that pattern in the next two sets to highlight his ruthlessness.

In Pictures | Australian Open 2020

1/81

Indeed, when he secured a double break in the second set, the game was up for Johnson, who was no match for the marvellous six-time Australian Open champion.

Federer served up 14 aces on his way to victory to show to his rivals that he is far from finished and will once again prove to be a tough opponent in round two.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in