In ominous form
after winning the Brisbane International in the leadup, the 33-year-old
Swiss was impenetrable on serve and charged around the court to preserve
his unbeaten record in the first round at Melbourne Park in his 16th
appearance.
As
the game progressed into the evening, however, Federer found the
Taiwanese got more and more into the match, giving him a decent first
round workout despite the comparative ease with which the Swiss master
managed to advance into the second round.
"He started to serve better in the third set and conditions
slowed down a bit. Because of the coolness and the night coming in, I
felt it was hard to generate stuff and it became a very interesting
third set.
"Instead of sort of just steamrolling through him he really made it tough for me."
The type of match was probably exactly what Federer needed in the first round of the season opening grand slam.
He continued with the things that were working well, like
his serve, and worked on the aspects of his game that he may need to
introduce more as he progresses through the tournament.
"I was holding my service games very comfortably," he
added. "Until probably 5-2 in the second set was the first time he had
any play on my service game.
"I started to mix it up and trying out things because I had to toward the end of the third.
"I adjusted to the conditions, because it did play
different at 7:00 than it did at 8:30. A drastic change, in my opinion."
The 47th-ranked Lu
exploited the slowing pace of the balls to make the third set a contest,
but lost serve in the 11th game before Federer sealed the match in less
than two hours.
"Winning first round, it's always a bit of a relief," added Federer. He will play Italian Simone Bolelli in the next round who was a 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 6-1 winner over Juan Monaco.
Federer’s coach, Stefan Edberg, the 1985 and 1987 Australian Open champion, was celebrating his 49th birthday on today.
Date: 19th January 2015, Source: Reuters
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