Basel, Switzerland (Sports Network) - Playing his first tennis since losing in September's U.S. Open final, Swiss icon Roger Federer returned to the tennis courts with a first-round victory Monday at his hometown Swiss Indoors tournament.
The world No. 1 Federer, who once served as a ball boy here, handled Belgian qualifier Olivier Rochus 6-3, 6-4 at St. Jakobshalle. The Basel native moved on in 66 minutes with the help of 12 aces and two service breaks.
The reigning three-time Basel champion Federer defeated his long-time rival David Nalbandian in last year's finale here.
Up next for the reigning Wimbledon and French Open champion Federer will be Italian Andreas Seppi.
One other seed saw action here on Day 1, as No. 5 Czech Radek Stepanek dismantled struggling German Rainer Schuettler 6-2, 6-0.
In other opening-round play, French lucky-loser Florent Serra got past 6- foot-10 Croat Ivo Karlovic 7-6 (7-5), 6-4 and Seppi overcame Swiss wild card Stephane Bohli 4-6, 6-1, 7-5.
In addition to Federer, this week's field also includes second-seeded Novak Djokovic and No. 3 seed Fernando Gonzalez, who titled here back in 2005.
The winner of this $2.59 million event will collect $430,000.