Federer hands out more punishment to Youzhny

The Swiss world number two looked revitalised during a 6-3 6-1 stroll -- his first competitive match since a surprise third round defeat by Andreas Seppi at the Australian Open.

(Reuters)

Only two head-to-head winning streaks are longer than Federer's over Youzhny -- Ivan Lendl's against Tim Mayotte (17) and Rafa Nadal's recently broken one against Tomas Berdych (18) -- and Youzhny looked resigned to his fate.

Federer banged down eight aces during a 56-minute exhibition and will face the winner of an all-Spanish clash between Fernando Verdasco and Guillermo Garcia-Lopez in round two.

Joining the 33-year-old in the second round of the high-profile event was Denis Istomin who removed struggling fifth seed Ernests Gulbis 7-5 6-2.

(Reporting by Martyn Herman, editing by Pritha Sarkar)