Tennis: Roger Federer wasted little time in advancing to the second round of the Australian Open after crushing Lukas Lacko on Monday. The defending champion in Melbourne was simply too good for his Slovakian opponent and wrapped up a 6-1 6-1 6-3 victory in just one hour and 24 minutes.
Lacko battled hard in the third set but the damage had already been done as Federer advanced to a meeting with either Gilles Simon or Yen-Hsun Lu.
Likely victor Simon, who won in Sydney last week, would at least present a challenge to Federer who had everything his own way against Lacko, ranked 97 in the world.
The Swiss broke twice in the first set to claim it in just 22 minutes and four more times in the second.
Lacko raised his game towards the end but remained powerless as a single break in the third enabled the second seed to progress.
"I am enjoying myself," he said afterwards. "I have played well the last six months, since losing in the Wimbledon quarter-finals to (Tomas) Berdych."
Gael Monfils staged an astonishing recovery from two sets and 5-2 down to overcome Holland's Thiemo De Bakker.
De Bakker looked poised to complete the best win of his career at a Grand Slam when he served for the match at 5-3 but the moment got to him on the Hisense Arena which allowed Monfils to storm back.
The 12th-seeded Frenchman broke again to claim the set before running through the fourth and fifth to clinch a 6-7 (5/7) 2-6 7-5 6-2 6-1 triumph.
"I just tried to make him struggle and make him earn the win," Monfils said afterwards. "I think he got tight and then started to struggle physically. And when you find the solution you have to dive on it."