Playing his first tennis since losing
in September's U.S. Open final, Swiss icon Roger Federer returned to the
tennis courts with a first-round victory Monday at his hometown Swiss Indoors
tournament.
The world No. 1 Federer, who once served as a ball boy here, handled
Belgian qualifier Olivier Rochus 6-3, 6-4 at St. Jakobshalle. The Basel native
moved on in 66 minutes with the help of 12 aces and two service breaks.
The reigning three-time Basel champion Federer defeated his long-time rival
David Nalbandian in last year's finale here.
Up next for the reigning Wimbledon and French Open champion Federer will be
Italian Andreas Seppi.
One other seed saw action here on Day 1, as No. 5 Czech Radek Stepanek
dismantled struggling German Rainer Schuettler 6-2, 6-0.
In other opening-round play, French lucky-loser Florent Serra got past 6-
foot-10 Croat Ivo Karlovic 7-6 (7-5), 6-4 and Seppi overcame Swiss wild card
Stephane Bohli 4-6, 6-1, 7-5.
In addition to Federer, this week's field also includes second-seeded Novak
Djokovic and No. 3 seed Fernando Gonzalez, who titled here back in 2005. The
former Aussie Open champion Djokovic will face German Andreas Beck here on
Tuesday.
The winner of this $2.59 million event will collect $430,000.
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