Roger Federer battles past Yen-Hsun Lu to advance at Australian Open

Roger Federer has begun his quest for a fifth Australian Open title by seeing off Yen-Hsun Lu in straight sets at the Rod Laver Arena this morning.

The second seed needed less than two hours to ease past his Taiwanese opponent 6-4 6-2 7-5 in Melbourne to set up a meeting with Simone Bolelli in the second round.

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Having shared the opening few games of the contest, Wimbledon 2010 quarter-finalist Lu allowed the world number two to take the lead following a series of errors, and from that point on it was fairly comfortable for Federer in the first set.

A 23-shot rally ended with the Swiss claiming the point in the final game of the opener, eventually striking the ball down the middle of the court to claim the set inside 30 minutes.

The second set started in much the same way as Lu came out strong, although he ultimately did not have enough to keep up with his more illustrious opponent.

Federer, who has reached the semi-final of this event in each of the past 11 years, edged ahead in the fifth game with a break of serve, and from that point on he cruised his way to a 6-2 triumph to take command of the contest.

Despite finding himself staring down the barrel of a straight-sets defeat, Lu stuck to the task by pushing his opposite number once more in what proved to be the final set, although once more Federer simply had too much for the 31-year-old.

The Swiss managed to keep some of his best tennis until the end, stretching Lu around the court to break serve and claim the match at the second attempt in the final game of the encounter.

Lu left the arena to a strong round of applause following his valiant attempt, although it is Federer who progresses through at the first Grand Slam of the season.