Federer sails to win in the opening round

Mary Pierce, the 1995 women's Australian Open winner, also breezed.
MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) -- Top-ranked Roger Federer dispatched wild card entry Denis Istomin on Tuesday, cruising to a 6-2, 6-3, 6-2 first-round win at the Australian Open.
Federer was broken once, when he was serving for the second set, and faced only three break points in the 83-minute match at Rod Laver Arena.
The overwhelming favorite for the title, Federer lost only one point on his serve in the second set until he made three uncharacteristic, erratic errors to give Istomin the break in the second-to-last game.
The 19-year-old from Uzbekistan, ranked 195th and playing in his first top-tier event, had some highlights.
He twice aced Federer as he held in the sixth game of the second set. He had eight aces overall, against only two for Federer.
It was Federer's second tour event since losing the final of the season-ending Masters Cup final to David Nalbandian at Shanghai, where he hobbled in on crutches because of an injured right ankle.
Good 2005 record
He finished 81-4 in 2005, winning 11 titles including Wimbledon and the U.S. Open. The 24-year-old Swiss star lost to the eventual champions at the Australian and French, but neither is in the draw at Melbourne Park.
Marat Safin didn't return to defend his title here because of a chronic knee problem and second-ranked Rafael Nadal, the French Open champion, is out with an injured foot.
Federer next plays the winner of Tuesday's late match between South Korea's Lee Hyung-taik and Germany's Florian Mayer.
A semifinal showdown with No. 3 Lleyton Hewitt, losing finalist here last year, looms for Federer.
Hewitt opened later Tuesday against Robin Vik of the Czech Republic.
Pierce triumphs
On the women's side, 1995 Australian Open winner Mary Pierce breezed past local wild-card entry Nicole Pratt 6-1, 6-1 in 52 minutes.
Pierce, seeded fifth, made the finals at the French and U.S. Opens last year.
Her French compatriot Amelie Mauresmo, winner of the season-ending WTA Championship in November, was set to open her campaign against China's Sun Tiantian, a doubles gold medalist at the Athens Olympics.
Three-time Australian Open champion Martina Hingis was to resume her comeback from retirement against Russia's Vera Zvonareva in a night match.
Seventh-seeded Patty Schnyder beat Eleni Daniilidou of Greece 6-4, 6-3.
The tournament started with all of the women's top 10 playing for only the second time in the Open era. The perfect 10 lasted only until the first afternoon.
Wimbledon champion Venus Williams, seeded 10th, sprayed 65 unforced errors Monday in her 2-6, 6-0, 9-7 first-round loss to Bulgaria's Tszvetana Pironkova.
Venus Williams prevails
Defending champion Serena Williams got a bit of a scare in the second set before dispatching 52nd-ranked Li Na of China 6-3, 6-7 (1), 6-2.
Serena, on a 15-match winning streak at Melbourne Park after winning the title in 2003 and '05 and skipping the '04 tournament, will play Camille Pin in the next round.
Pironkova, an 18-year-old Bulgarian ranked No. 94 entering the tournament, will play American Laura Granville.
Top-ranked Lindsay Davenport, 2004 Wimbledon champion Maria Sharapova and French Open winner Justine Henin-Hardenne were among the 10 seeded women to advance Monday. Six were ousted, including No. 9 Elena Dementieva in addition to No. 10 Venus Williams.
Among the men, No. 2-seeded Andy Roddick, his big serve producing only seven aces, downed Michael Lammer of Switzerland 6-4, 6-2, 6-2.
Masters Cup champion Nalbandian overcame Thai qualifier Danai Udomchoke 6-2, 6-2, 1-6, 6-7 (4), 6-1.
Other men advancing were No. 7 Ivan Ljubicic, No. 8 Gaston Gaudio, No. 11 David Ferrer, No. 13 Robby Ginepri, No. 17 Radek Stepanek, No. 18 Mario Ancic and No. 20 James Blake. Taylor Dent, Carlos Moya and Tim Henman were ousted.
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