At Australian Open, Roger Federer Rolls in the First Round

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MELBOURNE, Australia — Roger Federer picked up where he left off at the last Australian Open.

Federer, the defending champion, beat Aljaz Bedene, 6-3, 6-4, 6-3, on Tuesday in a night match, his first on Rod Laver Arena since clinching a career-reviving title here last year. He’s been met on court after wins here previously by the tennis greats Laver, John McEnroe and Jim Courier.

On Tuesday night, he got something different. The comedian Will Ferrell stepped out of the crowd and, slipping into character as Ron Burgundy from the movie “Anchorman,” conducted the post-match interview.

Angelique Kerber, the 2016 Australian Open winner, continued her resurgent run with a 6-0, 6-4 victory over Anna-Lena Friedsam to extend her streak to 10 consecutive wins.

Her ranking slid from No 1 into the 20s in 2017, but Kerber is coming back into the kind of form that won her a title in Sydney last week and makes her a strong contender at Melbourne Park.

“Something is going on with Australia and me,” she said. “I enjoy my stay, play my best tennis.”

Fourth-seeded Alexander Zverev and No. 7 David Goffin advanced, but No. 20 Roberto Bautista Agut lost to Fernando Verdasco, a semifinalist here in 2009, and the former Wimbledon finalist Milos Raonic lost, 6-7 (5), 7-5, 6-4, 7-6 (4), to Lukas Lacko.

It was Raonic’s earliest exit at a Grand Slam since 2011. He is coming off an injury-filled season that saw his ranking drop to No. 24 from a career-high of No. 3 in 2016.

No. 13 Sam Querrey restored some order for the American men with a 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 win over Feliciano Lopez. Two other American contenders, No. 8 Jack Sock and No. 16 John Isner, were out on opening day.

Madison Keys also reversed a trend, becoming the only one of the four American women who contested the U.S. Open semifinals last September to reach the second round in Australia.

Sloane Stephens, Venus Williams and CoCo Vandeweghe were all eliminated on Monday.

No. 17-seeded Keys, the runner-up at the U.S. Open, had a 6-1, 7-5 win over Wang Qiang.

No. 9 Johanna Konta beat Madison Brengle, 6-3, 6-1, and will meet another American, Bernarda Pera, in the second round. American women had four wins and 14 losses in round one.

No. 1-ranked Simona Halep was in serious trouble twice — having to save set points at 5-2 down in the first set, and badly twisting her left ankle early in the second — before beating the 17-year-old Australian wild-card entry Destanee Aiava, 7-6 (5), 6-1.

Halep, who lost back-to-back first-round matches here in the previous two years, will next play Eugenie Bouchard, the 2014 Wimbledon finalist, who beat Oceane Dodin, 6-3, 7-6 (5).

“It’s always really cool to go up against the best in the world,” Bouchard said. “You use it as a measuring stick. I want to try to play my game and go out there and do some damage.”

Other seeded players advancing included Wimbledon champion Garbiñe Mugurza, No. 6 Karolina Pliskova, No. 8 Caroline Garcia, No. 16 Elena Vesnina, and No. 29 Lucie Safarova.

The two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova lost, 6-3, 4-6, 10-8, to Andrea Petkovic.