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Top seed Roger Federer resumed his comeback on grass with a 6-3, 6-1 demolition of Japan's Yuichi Sugita in his Halle Open first round, with the Swiss looking sharper than in last week's shock loss in Stuttgart.
The 35-year-old's first match back in action last week at the Stuttgart Open was a flop when he suffered a shock loss to German veteran Tommy Haas, ranked 302 at the time, despite leading for a set and a half.
But the 18-times grand slam winner Federer, an eight-times winner on Halle grass, was in complete control against world number 66 Sugita -- a lucky loser who replaced injured Lu Yen-hsun -- on Tuesday.
The world number five required a little longer after he wasted three match points at 5-0 before breaking Sugita again to clinch the match after 52 minutes.
Third seed Kei Nishikori had to work much harder to get into the next round with a 6-7(7), 6-3, 6-4 victory over Spaniard Fernando Verdasco.
Local hero Alexander Zverev, the fourth seed who has already won three titles this year, made light work of Italian Paolo Lorenzi during a 6-3, 6-2 workout, while his older brother Mischa also booked a second round spot with a 6-4, 6-4 victory over Lukas Lacko.
IMAGE: Roger Federer of Switzerland
Photograph: Scott Barbour/Getty Images
