Federer gives Switzerland winning start at Hopman Cup

Roger Federer dismissed Japan's Yuichi Sugita 6-4 6-3 in just over an hour Saturday to give Switzerland a winning start at the Hopman Cup and send out a signal to his opponents ahead of next month's Australian Open. Coming off a fruitful year which yielded two grand slam titles, world No 2 Federer looked fit and sharp while other members of tennis's "Big Four" are grappling with injury issues. Federer hurried to save a break point in his first game but otherwise did not have any trouble against the 29-year-old Sugita, whom he broke in the fifth game, and there was no looking back from there.

.@rogerfederer looks razor sharp at the #HopmanCup with a 6-4 6-3 victory over #Sugita ? pic.twitter.com/9ps15Ddypw

— Hopman Cup (@hopmancup) December 30, 2017

The 19-time grand slam winner, who will be defending his title at Melbourne Park next month, was happy with the way he coped with the demands of the game. Belinda Bendic beat Naomi Osaka 7-5 6-3 in the women's contest to clinch Switzerland's victory in the round-robin stage of the mixed team event. Earlier, CoCo Vandeweghe beat Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and Jack Sock downed Karen Khachanov to help United States beat Russia at the Perth Arena.