And afterwards the second-seeded American revealed he feels back to full fitness as he continues his build up to the season-opening grand slam in Melbourne in two weeks’ time.

He said: “I feel healthy and fit probably for the first time since May last year, so that’s a good thing.

“There’s nothing I’m trying to cover up, I don’t feel short on practice, I don’t question the last month that I’ve put in and that’s a first for a little while.”

Australian hope Bernard Tomic was beaten 6-2 6-2 by seventh seed Florian Mayer while German Michael Berrer overcame Dudi Sela 1-6 7-6 (7/3) 6-2 to set up a potential clash with top seed Robin Soderling, who plays Ryan Harrison tomorrow.

Lukasz Kubot beat Daniel Brands 6-2 6-2, Santiago Giraldo surprisingly dispatched Gilles Simon 6-2 6-3 and rising star Alexandr Dolgopolov rallied past Igor Andreev 6-4 6-2.

In the women’s draw top seed Sam Stosur cruised past qualifier Lucie Hradecka 7-6 (7/1) 6-1 and second seed Shahar Peer was an equally convincing 6-4 6-2 victor against Sophie Ferguson.

Third seed Nadia Petrova is out, though, going down 7-6 (7/3) 6-3 to Petra Kvitova.

Elsewhere there were wins on day one for Marion Bartoli, wild card Jelena Dokic and Andrea Petkovic.