World number one Roger Federer oozed confidence as he warmed up for the defence of his Australian Open crown with a 5-7, 6-1, 6-4 victory over French Open champion Gaston Gaudio in the Kooyong Classic on Wednesday.
The Swiss clinched his 22nd consecutive win to join Andre Agassi, Tim Henman and Andy Roddick as victors on day one of the eight-man event.
Having flown in from Qatar after winning his first title of the season last Saturday, Federer was a little slow getting into his stride but once he did, Gaudio had no answer.
"I could definitely have served better but all in all I'm happy with the match," Federer said.
"For me it's important not to really play well from the start. I hope I really play well in the last match of the tournament.
"I'm trying out some things by taking some chances so maybe these are things that make matches closer but it's still important that I end up winning the matches."
Agassi, who will be bidding for a fifth Australian Open crown when the hardcourt Grand Slam gets underway on Monday, looked lean and confident in his first match for over two months as he beat Olympic champion Nicolas Massu 6-1, 7-6.
"I felt pretty good," Agassi said. "I liked the way the match played out... and maybe excluding a few second serve returns, I felt like I was doing most things pretty darn well for the first match."
Henman was barely tested in his 6-1, 7-5 victory over Argentine David Nalbandian.
The Briton raced through the first set and although he was broken when serving for the match at 5-4 in the second, he won the next two games to ease to victory.
Despite his win, Henman said the back injury that dogged him in 2004 had troubled him over the holiday period.
"I'm not the most flexible and at the end of the year I was pretty exhausted and wanted to have a couple of weeks where I didn't do anything," said Henman, who next faces Federer.
"When I started training again it really really seized up. As much as I enjoyed the two weeks off I don't think it's so productive."
Roddick, whose 2004 campaign ended in disappointment when the United States were beaten by Spain in the Davis Cup final, completed a 6-1, 6-4 win over Qatar Open runner-up Ivan Ljubicic.
