Roger Federer showed no sign of rust despite a lack of match practice ahead of the Australian Open as he launched his bid for a record-extending 21st Grand Slam title by hammering Steve Johnson 6-3 6-2 6-2 in the first round.
Playing his first competitive match since losing to Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas in the ATP Finals in November, the 38-year-old broke his opponent's serve early in each of the three sets and closed out the match when Johnson hit a return long.
Unlike his main rivals, third seed Federer, who won his last Grand Slam in 2018 at Melbourne Park, opted out of the inaugural ATP Cup in Australia to spend more time with his family before launching his 22nd season on Tour.
In his pre-tournament news conference on Saturday, Federer talked about the importance of getting off to a fast start and he did that against the American, who has not won a set in his three meetings against the Swiss.
Federer broke the American in his first service game to go up 3-0 and never looked back.
Despite blustery conditions, Federer served superbly from the start and hit winners at will against Johnson, who is ranked 75th in the world, and he was as ruthless under the closed roof at the Rod Laver Arena after play was interrupted by rain.
He faced just a single breakpoint in the entire match, hitting 10 aces and 30 winners.
Canadian young gun Denis Shapovalov raged at the chair umpire before succumbing to nerves as he crashed out of the Australian Open 6-3 6-7(7) 6-1 7-6(3) to unseeded Hungarian Marton Fucsovics.
Shapovalov, seeded 13th and widely tipped as a future Grand Slam champion, was out of sorts from the start at Margaret Court Arena and received a code violation after pounding his racket into the blue hardcourt when broken early in the third set.
That warning triggered a tirade at umpire Renaud Lichtenstein from the 20-year-old, who yelled repeatedly at the Frenchman: "It's my racket, I can do whatever I want with it!"
He was still indignant an hour after his match, saying it was a "terrible call".
"The rule that I know is that if I break the racket you can code me but you can’t code me for slamming it," a frustrated Shapovalov told reporters.
Dan Evans, urged to "miss a few meals" earlier this month by Britain captain Tim Henman, patted his stomach after completing a brave five-set comeback win over American Mackenzie McDonald.
The 30th seed's fitness was under the spotlight pre-tournament after Henman's light-hearted jibe but Evans had enough in the tank to overhaul McDonald 3-6 4-6 6-1 6-2 6-3 on Court 14 at Melbourne Park.
It was his first win from two sets down and continues a bright start to the season for the Birmingham 29-year-old who starred for Britain during their run to the quarter-finals of the inaugural ATP Cup earlier this month.
"It was just a bit of a joke to the guys in the corner," Evans told reporters of the stomach pat.
Stefanos Tsitsipas put on a commanding performance in his opening match, with a thumping 6-0 6-2 6-3 win over Italy's Salvatore Caruso.
Caruso, ranked 95th in the world, looked hopelessly outplayed throughout and his troubles were compounded after a finger on his right hand started bleeding from a cut early in the final set.
Tsitsipas had three match points on Caruso's serve at 5-2 but could not convert any of them. He finally secured victory on his own serve with an ace down the middle of the court after an hour and 45 minutes.
