BRISBANE: Roger Fed­erer, seeking an 18th Grand Slam title in his 18th season on tour, will ease into 2015 with a match against either a wild-card entry or a qualifier at the Brisbane International next week.

Federer, who arrived in Australia on Saturday, has a first-round bye in the Australian Open tune-up tournament.

Then the 17-time Grand Slam champion will play the winner of a match between Australian wild-card entry John Millman and a yet-to-be-determined qualifier.

Australian veteran Lleyton Hewitt, who beat Federer in the final last year, will play compatriot Sam Groth in his first match after the draw was conducted on Saturday.

Hewitt and Federer are on opposite sides of the draw and could not meet each other until the final.

Hewitt will have a tough time getting there, though, with potential matches against South African Kevin Anderson in the second round and Milos Raonic of Canada in the quarter-finals.

Federer last won a Grand Slam at Wimbledon in 2012, but feels good about adding a fifth Australian Open title this year.

Coming back from a disappointing 2013, Federer won more matches (73) than any player last year and moved back to No.2 behind Novak Djokovic.

“Overall it was a great season for me,” Federer said on Saturday. “I was consistent and I was playing positive, attacking tennis just the way I want to play and I gave myself chances at quite a few of the slams. This year I hope I can go one step further because going close is not quite good enough.”

On the women’s side, top-seeded Maria Sharapova also has a bye and then a second-round match against either Germany’s Sabine Lisicki or a qualifier.

Published in Dawn, January 4th, 2015

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