Roger Federer got his 2016 Australian Open underway in near perfect fashion with a dominant 6-2, 6-1, 6-2 victory over Nikoloz Basilashvili. The Swiss was all over his Georgian opponent from the start, dominating the rallies with his ground strokes and blowing Basilashvili away with a switched-on first serve. It took Federer merely an hour and twelve minutes to race through the first round.
Federer Gets Off to Strong Start
It did not take long for Federer to grab the early lead in the opening set. With Basilashvili serving in the third game, Federer brought up a pair of break points. He was gifted the second when the Georgian double faulted. The third seed raced to a 4-1 lead, but in the sixth game, he suddenly found himself down two break points. Basilashvili got the first break back by charging the net finishing with a forehand volley. That would be it for the Georgian’s fight in the opening set, as Federer immediately broke back and held to close out the opening set in twenty-three minutes.
Third Seed Dominates
Federer was even quicker to grab the early lead in the second set. Basilashvili served first in the second and three straight unforced errors from 30-15 gifted Federer the break to open the second. The Swiss maestro never looked back. In the second set, he held more break points on Basilashvili’s serve than the Georgian had game points. The lone bright spot for Basilashvili came in the fifth game, when he saved a pair of break points and came back from 15-40 down to win his lone game in the second set. However, he got no opportunities to break Federer back, and was broken again while serving to stay in the match. In the second set, Basilashvili hit fourteen unforced errors to only four winners.
Four-Time Champion Cruises
With seemingly little hope left, Basilashvili came out firing in the third set. He put pressure on the Federer serve before holding to love in the second game. He held in back-to-back games for the first time in the match for 2-2, but that was essentially where the match ended. In his next service game, he again found himself up 30-15, only to hit three straight unforced errors to gift Federer a 4-2 lead. After Federer held, Basilashvili was serving to stay in the match. It took Federer no time to reach match point at 15-40. The Georgian saved the first match point, but fired a forehand long on the second to send Federer flying into the second round.
By the Numbers
Federer was dominant on his first serve, winning ninety-two percent of those points. He also owned Basilashvili’s second serve, winning seventy percent of those points. In total, he reached break point fourteen times, converting eight of them. The break point Basilashvili held in the first set was his only one in the entire match. While Federer’s thirty-one winners was strong, he hit twenty unforced errors of his own. However, he was assisted by twenty-nine unforced errors by his opponent.
Federer advances to the second round where he will face Alexandr Dolgopolov.