Examining his second round opponent and likely opponents after that.

Igor Andreev was a moderate threat to Roger Federer in the first round but now that Federer has survived that challenge, the draw appears to be clear of any serious opposition at least until the 4th round.

This is what lies ahead for Federer:

Round 2, Victor Hanescu

Federer is 3-0 in matches against Hanescu and 8-0 in sets played (all results clay, however). 

Federer will probably come into his second round match as a -2000 (1/2000) favorite or shorter although the tough time Fed had with Andeev might lead to longer odds.

At any rate Fed should win.

Round 3, likely against Albert Montanes

Montanes won his first round match via retirement as Oscar Hernandez felt forced to withdraw.  That improved Montanes record to 2-8 at the Australian Open over his career.

Importantly Montanes, should he make the third round, is 0-2 heads up against Federer and he, Montanes, does not appear to be the man who will top the number 1 seed this year.

A 4th round match for Fed will likely be against either Marcos Baghdatis, Lleyton Hewitt, or David Ferrer.  All three of those players appeared to be on top form in the first round as they went a combined 8-0 in completed sets.  Ferrer was actually on his way to posting the rare triple bagel, the 'hole in one' of tennis, but his opponent Frederico Gil retired down a break in the third set, 6-0, 6-0, 2-0.

Should Federer make the quarters, the most likely opponent according to odds would be Nikolay Davydenko, a man who is playing the best tennis of his career and who has a two match winning streak going against Federer.

Those two middle rounds, the 4th round and the quarters, represent a huge threat to Federer and his odds are way too short to bet at this point to win the Australian Open as they are only +275 (11/4) with Sportingbet. 

Those odds might be about right for Federer just to make the semis and Nikolay Davydenko's odds of +1000 to win the Aussie look a lot more attractive.

Go to Sportingbet to bet on Australian Open tennis.