Federer brilliance forces rival into hilarious gesture

Roger Federer’s dominance in his first competitive match of the new season forced a hilarious gesture from his rival in the Hopman Cup.

Federer marked his competitive return to the courts with an almost flawless match against Britain’s Cameron Norrie in Perth.

The Swiss maestro found himself in the unfamiliar position of being three break points down in the opening game of his singles tie on Sunday night.

As he so often does though, the 20-time grand slam champion dug himself out of danger to eventually take the first game.

From there on it was business as usual for the 37-year-old who lit up the crowd in Perth with some vintage ground strokes.

Federer quickly raced away to a 5-0 lead in the opening set and looked destined to dish out a bagel to his beleaguered rival.

However, Norrie brought the biggest roar of the night from the crowd after holding serve to finally get himself on the scoreboard.

The 23-year-old threw his arms up as if he’d won the match, with viewers lapping up the Brit’s ironic celebration.

Norrie merely delayed the inevitable though as Federer again got the job done on his serve to take the opening set in 31 minutes.

The second set was almost a carbon cop of the first as Federer finished off his masterclass to put Switzerland 1-0 up courtesy of a 6-1 6-1 triumph.