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Djokovic, Federer reach third round at Australian Open

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IANS Melbourne

World No.1 Novak Djokovic and Swiss tennis legend Roger Federer moved to the third round of the Australian Open here on Wednesday.

Djokovic beat French promising talent Quentin Halys 6-1, 6-2, 7-6 (7-3).

Halys, 19, had high hopes after defeating Croatia's Ivan Dodig in the first round, which marks the Frenchman's first ever victory in his professional career.

However, Serbian Djokovic had full control of the match.

Halys, who is ranked 187th among the world's tennis players, delivered a good performance, indicating a bright future for him.

Djokovic will now play Italian Andreas Seppi, who eliminated American player Denis Kudla 7-5, 6-4, 6-4.

 

Federer will play in the third round for the 17th straight occasion after brushing aside tricky second round opponent Alexandr Dolgopolov.

The evergreen 34-year-old didn't give Dolgopolov - who broke onto the world scene with a run to the Australian Open quarter-finals in 2011 - a look in, denying the Ukrainian a single break point opportunity in the 6-3, 7-5, 6-2 win.

"It's the least I expect, to be in the third round of a Slam, obviously," Federer said after winning.

"So I'm pumped up, I'm playing well, I'm feeling good."

Federer said he wasn't about to get ahead of himself, after the all-time great fell to Italian Andreas Seppi at the third-round hurdle of last year's Australian Open.

"There's always a danger - last year (the third round) was the end for me. So I hope to go further," Federer said.

The World No.3 was on and off Rod Laver Arena in under two hours, wrapping up the day session on centre court.

Searching for his first Australian Open title in five years, Federer was untroubled by the Dolgopolov's unorthodox tactics.

However, Federer said he had a lot of respect for the 27-year-old, and had earmarked the match as a potential minefield when the draw was released late last week.

"I'm a big fan of his game. He's explosive, he's got a great return - especially on the second serve - he's got all the shots," he said.

Apart from these marquee men, other seeded stars restored order on Wednesday after a mass exodus of eight protected players, including 14-time Grand Slam winner Rafael Nadal and women's No.2 Simona Halep on Tuesday.

In the men's draw, Japanese roadrunner Kei Nishikori slowly wore down American opponent - and close friend - Austin Krajicek, recording another straight sets win (6-3, 7-6 (7-5), 6-3).

Men's six-seed Tomas Berdych, meanwhile, continued to fly under the radar, making light work of Bosnian Mirza Basic 6-4, 6-0, 6-3.

In the women's section, ffth seed Maria Sharapova blitzed by Belarusian Aliaksandra Sasnovich 6-2, 6-1. Not long after, Sharapova's long-time nemesis Serena Williams turned in a equally dominant 6-1, 6-2 dressing down of Hsieh Su-wei of Chinese Taipei.

World No.4 Agnieszka Radwanska held off Canadian Eugenie Bouchard to enter the third round with a 6-4, 6-2 win.

The only seed not to move on was Svetlana Kuznetsova, a former No.2, who had an off-day against Ukraine's Kateryna Bondarenko.

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First Published: Jan 20 2016 | 8:14 PM IST

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