Federer shows strong form in Sydney

Nineteen year-old Roger Federer is on form Keystone

Switzerland's Roger Federer has won a surprise victory in the first round of Sydney's International tennis tournament, beating the third seeded South African, Wayne Ferreira, 6-3, 6-4.

The Swiss teenager’s victory comes only three days after his Hopman Cup triumph with partner, Martina Hingis. The Swiss team beat the United States 2-1 in Saturday’s final to win the cup for only the second time.

Switzerland’s number two men’s player, Marc Rosset, also qualified for the next round of the tournament, but struggled against Vladimir Vlotchkov. He conceded the first set to the Belarussian 4-6, but battled his way back into the game in the second, winning it 7-6 on tie-break.

Rosset went on to win the third set 6-2.

Switzerland’s Georg Bastl went up against Spain’s Carlos Moya in the last match of the day. After winning the first set, 6-1, he tied up his victory in the second set, 7-4.

Bastl will play against the French player, Arnaud Clément, in the next round of the tournament.

Sydney’s International has 915,000 dollars in prize money.

Elsewhere in Australia, Switzerland’s Patty Schnyder beat Asa Carlsson of Sweden in a hard fought game.

The Swiss number six seed at the Canberra tournament lost the first set 3-6, before taking the second on tie-break and cruising to a 6-0 win in the third set.

swissinfo with agencies