Federer advances at Australian Open
Top seeded Roger Federer has won his third-round match at the Australian Open, beating Spain’s Albert Montañés 6-3, 6-4, 6-4.
The Swiss star and world number one looked sharp in front of the 15,000 fans that packed into the Rod Laver arena for his Saturday afternoon match, serving the second set after breaking the 29-year-old Montañés in the penultimate game, then breaking him again to open the third set.
The win, which took one hour and 48 minutes to achieve, was Federer’s 50th at Melbourne, where he has collected three of his record 15 grand slam singles titles.
“It was important to come through the first week,” Federer said after his win over Montañés, ranked 31. “I feel good, I feel confident. Physically I’m fine and mentally fresh and that’s the way you want to go into the second week.”
He will face Australia’s Lleyton Hewitt on Monday.
Federer, who also holds South African citizenship, revealed that his parents had considered emigrating from Switzerland to Australia when he was a young teen and his father did a three-month work stint Down Under.
But after a long Australian vacation, Federer returned to Europe and attended a tennis academy.
“I stayed Swiss and will remain Swiss and I’m happy I chose that way,” Federer, a fan favourite in Australia, said. “Sorry guys.”
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