Federer Opens With Win Over Young Istomin
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MELBOURNE, Australia – Top-ranked Roger Federer dispatched wildcard entry Denis Istomin in the first round of the Australian Open yesterday, cruising to a 6-2, 6-3, 6-2 victory.
Federer was broken once, when he was serving for the second set, and faced only three break points in the 83-minute match.
The overwhelming favorite for the title, Federer lost only one point on his serve in the second set until he made three uncharacteristic, erratic errors to give Istomin the break in the second-tolast game.
Federer drew a near-capacity crowd to Rod Laver Arena for the first match of the day. While the crowd was cheering for Istomin to mount a comeback and extend the match for a while, Federer finished it off with a service winner.
Istomin, a 19-year-old from Uzbekistan, is ranked 195th. Playing in his first top-tier event, he had some highlights. He twice aced Federer as he held in the sixth game of the second set. He had eight aces overall, against only two for Federer.
“I played good today, but had too many unforced errors,” said Istomin, who had 39 unforced errors. “It was very good for my career … he gave me seven games.”
The 24-year-old Federer next plays the winner of the late match between South Korea’s Lee Hyung-taik and Germany’s Florian Mayer. A semifinal showdown with No. 3 Lleyton Hewitt, losing finalist here last year, looms for Federer.
Other men advancing were No. 7 Ivan Ljubicic, No. 8 Gaston Gaudio, No. 11 David Ferrer, no. 13 Robby Ginepri, no. 17 Radek Stepanek, no. 18 Mario Ancic, and no.20 James Blake.Taylor Dent,Carlos Moya, and Tim Henman were ousted.
On the women’s side, 1995 Australian Open winner Mary Pierce breezed past local wild-card entry Nicole Pratt 6-1, 6-1 in 52 minutes. Pierce, seeded fifth, made the finals at the French and U.S. Opens last year.
Seventh-seeded Patty Schnyder beat Eleni Daniilidou of Greece 6-4, 6-3 and No. 12 Anastasia Myskina, the 2004 French Open champion, beat Yuliana Myskina 7-6 (6), 6-1.
The tournament started with all of the women’s top 10 playing for only the second time in the Open era. The perfect 10 lasted only until the first afternoon.
