Roger Federer began his 2009 Australian Open campaign in winning fashion on Monday night in Rod Laver Arena. Federer defeated Andreas Seppi 6-1, 7-6(4), 7-5 in two hours and 21 minutes.

When it comes to first-round customers, it usually doesn’t get much more difficult than Seppi, who narrowly missed out on being seeded at No. 35 in the world rankings. It certainly wasn’t easy for Federer on Monday; in part to due to Seppi, but also in part due to Federer’s own game.

The difficulty of it was apparent right from the start. Federer faced two break points in the opening game of the match but ended up holding for 2-1. That seemed to settle him down and he not face another break point the rest of the set. Federer used to breaks of his own to sprint to a 6-1 first-set victory.

Unforced errors began to plague Federer’s game in the second set, while Seppi raised his level of serving. That allowed the Italian to remain on level terms until a tiebreaker was needed to decide things. Federer took the decider seven points to four, taking a commanding two sets to love lead.

Seppi, however, refused to quit in the third. Little separated the two players throughout the set and Seppi saved a match point at 4-5 to stay on serve. He had a break point at 5-5, but dumped a forehand into the net and that proved to be the beginning of the end. Federer held for 6-5 and then broke serve for the first time since the first set, finishing off the match.

Federer ended with 45 winners and 43 errors; the latter of which he will want to cut down against Evgeny Korolev in round two and possibly Marat Safin after that.

Still, Federer was satisfied with his tournament-opening performance. “He was a very tough customer,” Federer said of Seppi. “But I think I played well. I had to as he’s a quality player.”

Added Federer about his tournament prospects: “This year my preparations have been much better than last year and I feel I know more where my game is.”

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