LAUSANNE, Switzerland -- Roger Federer beat Belgium's Kristof Vliegen 7-6 (1), 6-4, 6-2 in a Davis Cup match Friday after the irate Swiss star requested that an entire team of line judges be replaced.
Upset by a baseline call that led to him losing serve to trail 2-0 in the second set, Federer walked to his chair and called for match referee Norbert Peick to change the line judges.
The team of nine officials were kept in place before being removed at a change of ends when the U.S. Open champion trailed 4-1. They left the indoor arena to a chorus of boos from a partisan Swiss crowd.
"It was an annoying call for me and I just asked him to change them, that's all I did," Federer said. "Who knows, maybe I overreacted but I was so irritated by the call because for me it was such an obvious call."
Federer's victory in just over two hours gave Switzerland a 2-0 lead in the World Group playoff match. Earlier, Stanislas Wawrinka -- who won Olympic gold with Federer in men's doubles in Beijing last month -- beat Steve Darcis 6-7 (3), 6-1, 6-3, 2-6, 6-4 in a four-hour match.
The 27-year-old Federer said there were also questionable line calls in the opening singles match.
"Maybe I came into the match already a bit aggravated," he said. "I know it's not easy for a linesman. I wouldn't want to be one myself."
After Federer's initial complaint, the 95th-ranked Vliegen also showed his displeasure with calls that went against him in the three games before the officials departed.
"If Roger himself is complaining about the people, with the umpire and the line umpires ... that is a really good sign to me that I was not the only one," Vliegen said.
Federer was making his first appearance of the year before his native crowd and dominated the first-set tiebreaker, clinching it with an ace.
After the new line judge team was brought on Federer proceeded to win the next five games and take the second set.
He broke the 26-year-old Belgian's serve to open the third set and was never threatened as he closed out the match. He improved his career record in Davis Cup singles to 25-6.
The ninth-ranked Wawrinka, playing in his home town of Lausanne, got an early break in the first set in front of a sold-out crowd of 6,400 before Darcis rallied and easily won the tiebreaker.
But Wawrinka bounced back with three breaks in the second set, and broke again in the eighth game of the third after No.58 Darcis had double faulted at deuce.
Darcis then saved all five break points in the fourth set to level the match, but Wawrinka raced to a 4-0 lead in the decider.
The Swiss pair are scheduled to revive their Olympic partnership in Saturday's doubles rubber against Xavier Malisse and Olivier Rochus, who won the 2004 French Open.
"We will see after tonight," Wawrinka said. "We are going to talk with Roger and the rest of the team to see what we are going to do tomorrow."
