Roger Federer made a blistering start to his Hopman Cup campaign with a 6-1 6-1 rout of Great Britain’s Cameron Norrie in Perth on Sunday night.
The win handed Switzerland a 1-0 lead in their tie against the Brits and sent a timely reminder to Federer’s Australian Open rivals.
After being made to work for his opening service game Federer took the first five games of the lop-sided encounter against the world No.91, which lasted just 57 minutes.
Norrie, 23, had declared the chance to tangle with Federer a dream come true but his experience quickly turned nightmarish against the Swiss legend.
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Belinda Bencic sealed the tie for Switzerland with a 6-2 7-7 (7-0) victory over Katie Boulter in the women’s singles.
Earlier, German pair Alexander Zverev and Angelique Kerber completed a clean sweep of Spain in their opening tie on Sunday.
Zverev was made to work for his hard-fought 6-4 4-6 7-6(7-0) victory over Spanish veteran David Ferrer.
Kerber also needed three sets to seal the deal, seeing off Garbine Muguruza 6-2 3-6 6-3 to take an unassailable 2-0 lead.
Last year’s beaten finalists finished the job in the mixed doubles with a 4-2 4-3 (5-3) triumph.
