Roger Federer has safely secured his progress at the US Open by beating Marinko Matosevic 6-3 6-4 7-6 in the first round in New York.
The second seed was matched by his Australian opponent for long spells of the first set, but finally secured the breakthrough in the eighth game with a crucial break of serve followed by a comfortable service game to clinch the set.
Federer was forced to follow a similar path in the second set, and his class once again shone through as he applied enough pressure to claim the break of serve.
Matosevic managed to save three set points on his own serve, but was powerless to prevent his Swiss rival from securing another set with a dominant performance on serve.
Federer continued to dominate exchanges when serving, and the end appeared to be near when he broke once again in the seventh game of the third set.
However, Matosevic was not ready to go down without a fight, and immediately hit back with a break of his own to extend the contest further.
A tie-break was needed to decide the set, and despite suffering an early setback, Federer responded with two mini-breaks to complete the victory in just over two hours.
Callum Mulvihill
