Federer opens with straight sets win over Lacko

January 17, 2011 -- Updated 1058 GMT (1858 HKT)

Roger Federer was untroubled in the first match of his title defense in Melbourne.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Defending champion Roger Federer eases to first round win at Australian Open
• Federer beats Lukas Lacko of Slovakia 6-1 6-1 6-3 at Melbourne Park
• Nikolay Davydenko and Sam Querrey are early seeded casualties in first slam of 2011
• Andy Roddick of the United States powers to straight sets win; Monfils also through

(CNN) -- Roger Federer began the defense of his Australian Open crown with a straight sets victory over Slovakian Lukas Lacko at Melbourne Park on Monday.

The world number two took just an hour and 24 minutes to dispatch Lacko 6-1 6-1 6-3 in their first round match on the Rod Laver Arena.

Federer, who beat Britain's Andy Murray in last year's final, is chasing his 17th grand slam title and could not have made a more convincing start.

"I thought I played great," the Swiss maestro told the official Australian Open website.

"I was able to keep on pressing, you know, put him on the back foot ... That it worked was obviously great. But at the end, I'm obviously very happy."

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I thought I played great. I'm obviously very happy
--Roger Federer

The unfortunate Lacko, who played world number one and then defending champion Rafael Nadal in the second round last year, was always in trouble after losing the opener 6-1 in just 22 minutes.

He trailed 3-0 in the second before daring to break Federer's service for the first and only time only to then lose the next three games.

World number 97 Lacko offered stiffer resistance in the third set, but a single break of service was enough for Federer to secure a second round match against Gilles Simon, after the Frenchman beat Yen-Hsun Lu of Chinese Tapei 6-7 6-2 6-4 6-2.

While Federer breezed through, there were opening round defeats for two seeds, Nikolay Davydenko of Russia and Sam Querrey of the United States.

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On the comeback trail after injury 23rd seed Davydenko lost in four sets to German Florian Mayer, who won 6-3 4-6 7-6 6-4.

Querrey, ranked 18th, was involved in a thrilling five-setter against world No. 72 Lukasz Kubot from Poland.

Kubot trailed two sets to one on court two, but cheered by a big contingent from Poland, hit back to win 5-7 6-2 3-6 6-1 7-6.

Gael Monfils looked set to join the list of upsets when he trailed young Dutchman Thiemo de Bakker two sets to love.

But the popular Frenchman, who is seeded 12th, battled back on the Hisense Arena for a stunning 6-7 2-6 7-5 6-2 6-1 victory.

On the same court, eighth seed Andy Roddick of the United States, showed fine early form with a 6-1 6-2 6-2 victory over Jan Hajek of the Czech Republic.