Swiss men make it four out of five at Australian Open

Two more Swiss players are through to the second round of the Australian Open. Roger Federer defeated Frenchman Arnaud Di Pasquale and Marc Rosset Germany's Christian Vinck, bringing to four the number of Swiss men still in the tournament.

Martina Hingis joined the party, defeating Hungary’s Katalin Marosi-Aracama. But Patty Schnyder failed against Australia’s Evie Dominikovic in the women’s singles.

Rosset was the quickest off the mark with a three-set victory, 6-3, 6-1, 7-6. The Geneva player’s booming first serve and 16 aces put his opponent on the back foot during most of the match.

Rosset only failed to pull away from Vinck in the last set, having to close out the match with a tiebreaker. He will now face Spain’s Carlos Moya, a former world number one, in the second round.

Federer had a harder time against Di Pasquale, with neither player dominating in the first two sets. Both took one set apiece, 6-4.

After that, the 19 year-old from Basel took charge of the match, winning the third set 6-1, before finishing off his opponent 7-5.

Martina Hingis smothered her opponent in her first-round match, polishing off Marosi-Aracama in just 39 minutes, 6-1, 6-1. The Swiss Miss’ service was particularly efficient in the first set, with a winning percentage of 74 per cent.

Patty Schnyder got off to a good start against Dominikovic, a player who had never got past the first round of the Open in four attempts, taking the first set 6-4.

The Swiss player’s game unravelled in the second set, which the Australian won 6-1. The final set was no better for Schnyder, who lost it 6-3.

swissinfo with agencies