Novak Djokovic made a winning debut on at the Swiss Indoors as the Serbian claimed a 6-3, 7-5 victory over Andreas Beck in the tennis stronghold of Roger Federer.

Djokovic took just under 90 minutes to move into the second round at the St Jakobshalle, where top seed Federer got his start in the game a decade and a half ago as a ball boy at the indoor event.

Djokovic, who leads the ATP with 67 wins, said he feels the presence of Federer around the grounds.

“Of course in his hometown and home tournament, all of the attention will be on him,” said the Serbian sporting hero. “But I’ve found it fine here.”

“I hope to repay the kindness by going on the court and getting as far as possible this week.”

The player whose only experience in Basel was a qualifying loss in 2004, couldn’t fault his opening main draw effort.

“For a first match (since Shanghai last month) I played well. My strokes were solid but I could have closed it out better in the second set.”

Third-ranked Djokovic delivered ten aces to set up a second-round match with Czech Jan Hernych, who extended the misery of Australian qualifier Peter Luczak, who sank deeper into a rut with a third straight loss in the first round, 6-3, 6-4.