Federer’s early form continues to impress

Reigning Australian Open champion Roger Federer has continued his impressive start to the season with a second consecutive straight-sets win at the Hopman Cup.

The 19-time Grand Slam champion downed Russian Karen Khachanov 6-3 7-6 (10-8) in 77 minutes to hand Switzerland the perfect start to their tie in Perth on Tuesday night.

Former world No.7 Belinda Bencic then wrapped up the tie with a tough 6-1 3-6 6-3 win over Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova before teaming with Federer to win the fast4 mixed doubles 4-3 3-4 4-1.

The result continues an impressive start to the season for Federer who opened his Hopman Cup campaign with a straight-sets win over Japan’s Yuichi Sugita.

“I’m healthy and had a great off season,” Federer said.

“The body’s great, it couldn’t be better, so I couldn’t be happier.”

The Swiss star enjoyed an extraordinary year in 2017, claiming two Grand Slam titles and climbing back to No.2 in world rankings, but warned rivals he is more confident in his game now than he was this time last season.

“I feel much more in a rhythm,” he said.

“Last year, I was like I hope I’m going to be able to hit my first serves, and I hope it’s going to work out as much as it did in the practice.

“I think all those question marks aren’t really there this time around, which is a nice thing.”

Federer will return to the court tonight when Switzerland take on team USA.

Federer is due to play Jack Sock who retired early with a hip injury in the second set of his clash with Japan’s Yuichi Sugita on Tuesday but the world No.8 is expected to be fit for the tie.