Latest: Federer in easy 1st-round win at Aussie Open
MELBOURNE, Australia — Roger Federer has advanced to the second round at Melbourne Park, setting a record just by showing up.
The No. 3-seeded Swiss star is appearing in a record 65th consecutive major, an impressive run that started at the Australian Open in 2000. Federer had little trouble Monday beating Nikoloz Basilashvili of Georgia 6-2, 6-1, 6-2.
Federer, who has won four Australian Open titles among his 17 majors, faces Alexandr Dolgopolov in the second round and could face No. 27 Grigor Dimitrov in the third.
The 34-year-old Federer hasn’t won a Grand Slam title since Wimbledon in 2012.
Meanwhile, a resurgent Eugenie Bouchard continued her injury comeback with a first-round win. The 37th-ranked Bouchard beat Aleksandra Krunic of Serbia 6-3, 6-4 to advance to a second-round matchup against No. 4 Agnieszka Radwanska.
Bouchard is playing in only her fourth tournament since sustaining a concussion when she fell in the dressing room at last year’s U.S. Open.
Earlier this month the 21-year-old Canadian made it to the quarterfinals at the Shenzen Open and followed that up by reaching the final at the Hobart International.
Fifth-seeded Maria Sharapova has eased to a 6-1, 6-3 win over Nao Hibino in a first-round match to start the night program at Margaret Court Arena.
Sharapova, who pulled out of the Brisbane International with a left forearm injury, appeared to show no side effects from the ailment in her 73-minute win over the Japanese player.
Her only stumble came while serving for the match when she was broken by Hibino, but Sharapova broke back in the next game to clinch the match.
“I haven’t played many matches in many weeks, it was great to come out here and start my season,” Sharapova said.
In another match, 19-year-old wild-card entry Noah Rubin got the biggest win of his career, upsetting 17th-seeded Benoit Paire of France 7-6 (4), 7-6 (6), 7-6 (5) for his first Grand Slam victory.
The No. 328th-ranked Rubin received a wild card into the main draw as part of a reciprocal agreement between the U.S. and Australian tennis associations. The Long Island, New York, native had only played one previous Grand Slam match, a straight-sets loss to Argentina’s Federico Delbonis in the first round of the 2014 U.S. Open.
Paire, who made a sartorial statement by wearing one red and one black shoe, had 61 winners compared to just 22 for the American, but also 72 unforced errors.
Afterword, the Frenchman didn’t have many kind words for his opponent.
“I played against a not good player, but I was very bad today so that’s it, I lost,” he said. “I didn’t know him and after this match, I said, yes, he’s not a good player.”
