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Tuesday 3 January 2017
Federer wins 1st match on return, Switzerland beats Britain

PERTH, Australia (AP) — bourne. He hasn’t won a
Roger Federer returned Grand Slam title since 2012
from six months on the at Wimbledon, and hasn’t
sidelines with a knee injury won the Australian Open
to beat Dan Evans 6-3, 6-4 title since 2010, but hasn’t
on Monday and lead Swit- given up hope of extend-
zerland to an opening 3-0 ing his record in the majors.
win over Britain at the Hop- “After all these years, it
man Cup mixed teams would be nice to win an-
tournament. other one — of course I’d
The 17-time major winner even take two or three or
missed the French Open four,” he said. “We’ll see.
last year, ending a run of 65 It’s tough at the top. A lot of
consecutive Grand Slam good guys out there right
tournaments, and hadn’t now. I’ll give it a chance,
played competitively since and see what happens.”
re-injuring his surgically re- Federer said he’d spent
paired left knee at Wimble- plenty of time on condi-
don in July. But he showed tioning during his break
no signs of rust in his 61-min- from the game and felt
ute win over Evans. In this July 8, 2016, file photo, Roger Federer of Switzerland returns to Milos Raonic of Canada dur- pain free.
“I’d like to live it again. I’m ing their men’s semifinal singles match at the Wimbledon Tennis Championships in London. “I don’t have any pain,” he
a little bit sad it’s over, be- Associated Press said. “It’s been nice that I
cause it was so nice out was able to get rid of that
there,” Federer said of his said it was the kind of feel- Belinda Bencic held off bles, beating Evans and early.”
return. “I was actually quite ing he missed the most Heather Watson 7-5, 3-6, Watson 4-0, 4-1. Switzerland is set to play
emotional. When I walked while he was sidelined. 6-2 later Monday to give Federer said he’s looking Germany on Wednesday
down, I was like, ‘Oh my “I thought for a first match it Switzerland an unbeatable for as many matches as and France on Friday, with
God, this is better than I was great, because my ex- 2-0 lead. Federer and Ben- possible in Perth ahead the winning team in Group
thought it would be.’” pectations were obviously cic easily completed the of the Australian Open, A qualifying for Saturday’s
The 35-year-old Federer quite low.” sweep in the mixed dou- which starts Jan. 16 in Mel- final.q