World No. 5 David Ferrer continued his good form as he was an easy winner over Portugal’s Rui Machado 6-1, 6-4, 6-2 in his first-round match Tuesday at the Australian Open.
Ferrer, who opened his 2012 campaign last week with the successful title defence at the Heineken Open in Auckland, broke the 70th-ranked Machado seven times from nine opportunities to clinch victory after one hour and 44 minutes. Machado committed 52 unforced errors to the Spaniard’s 20.
The 29-year-old Ferrer is making his 10th straight appearance at the year’s first major, where he has a 20-9 record. He matched his best Grand Slam performance last year at the Australian Open after knocking out countryman and then-World No. 1 Rafael Nadal in the quarter-finals.
Canadian Milos Raonic, who won the Chennai Open title in the first week of the 2012 ATP World Tour season, also moved comfortably through to the second round as he defeated Italian Filippo Volandri 6-4, 6-0, 6-2. The No. 23 seed capitalised on six of his 12 point chances and saved the five he faced on serve.
Raonic made an impressive run last year on his Australian Open debut, reaching the fourth round as a qualifier before falling to Ferrer. He earned ATP World Tour Newcomer of the Year honours in 2011.
Japan’s Kei Nishikori, the No. 24 seed, began and finished strongly to defeat Frenchman Stephane Robert. After racing through the opening set in 19 minutes, Nishikori dropped serve early in the 66-minute second set before coming back to win in a tie-break. He broke Robert three more times in the final set to close out the 6-1, 7-6(7), 6-0 victory.
Alex Bogomolov Jr. notched his second career win at the Australian Open, defeating Spaniard Daniel Gimeno-Traver 6-3, 6-2, 6-4. The 32nd-seeded Russian, the 2011 ATP World Tour Most Improved Player of the Year, is making his first appearance at this tournament since 2006.
German Philipp Petzschner won the first 16 games of his opening match before closing out a 6-0, 6-0, 6-2 win over Czech Lukas Rosol after one hour and 25 minutes. Rosol, 26, was making his Australian Open debut.
