London - They walked on to Wimbledon's Court One as two fellow 32-year-olds, but that's where the similarity between Roger Federer and Paolo Lorenzi ended as the Swiss began his pursuit of a record eighth Wimbledon title with a 6-1 6-1 6-3 romp on Tuesday.
A year after leaving the All England Club as a shell-shocked second-round loser, Federer was back to his sublime best as he teased and tormented Italian Lorenzi with a heady mix of laser-sighted serves and stinging groundstrokes.
The exhibition certainly won the approval of his coach Stefan Edberg, who whipped off his sunglasses soon after the start to get a better look at the elegant winners flowing off Federer's racket.
After squandering five match points on the Lorenzi serve, the fourth seed finished it off with his ninth ace to set up a second round meeting with either Frenchman Julien Benneteau or Luxembourg's Gilles Muller.
Reuters