Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Federer and Djokovic ease through

Federer and Djokovic ease through

AUSTRALIAN OPEN Venue: Melbourne Park Date: 19 January-1 FebruaryCoverage: BBC Red Button, BBC One & Two (including all Andy Murray matches), Radio 5 Live sports extra, BBC Sport website (Red Button coverage streamed on website throughout fortnight)
Roger Federer
Federer had an easy passage into the third round

Roger Federer cruised into the third round of the Australian Open with a 6-2 6-3 6-1 win over Evgeny Korolev.

The second seed will next face 2005 champion Marat Safin, who enjoyed a 7-5 6-2 6-2 win over Spain's Guillermo Garcia-Lopez.

Novak Djokovic progressed to the last 32 with a 7-5 6-1 6-3 win over Frenchman Jeremy Chardy.

Tenth seed David Nalbandian suffered a shock 6-4 5-7 4-6 6-4 6-2 defeat to Chinese Taipei's Lu Yen-hsun.

"Maybe tonight I won't be able to sleep," said Lu.

"This is the first time I've beaten a top 10 player, and it's in a Grand Slam."

There were no such problems for 11th seed David Ferrer of Spain who beat Slovakian Dominic Hrbaty 6-2 6-2 6-1 to set up a tie with Marin Cilic.

The Croatian was in impressive form as he saw off Serbian Janko Tipsarevic 6-2 6-3 4-6 6-3 in front of a boisterous crowd on Court Two.

Federer found Russian qualifier Korolev, who defeated former world number one Carlos Moya to set up the tie, no match for him.

The first set took just 28 minutes as Federer got two early breaks, the second went with serve until the eighth game when Federer got the breakthrough, and he broke the Russian twice early in the third to race to a 4-0 lead.

Unfortunately I haven't won a lot of matches against him, but I'm looking forward to it. I have nothing to lose

Marat Safin on facing Roger Federer
Korolev held to make it 4-1 but, with the youngster's unforced error count mounting, Federer closed out the match with ease in one hour and 27 minutes.

"I'm happy the way it went. He was also a good opponent to play against and there were a lot of good shots," said Federer, before looking ahead to the Safin clash.

"I'm happy to play Marat, we've had some great matches over the years.

"I think it's going to be a great match already in the third round, which is a pity in some ways, but I hope we can come up with some good tennis."

Djokovic, 21, was made to work in a tight first set, which he took at the death when it looked to be heading for a tie-break.

You cannot put Andy Murray as the favourite next to Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and myself here

Novak Djokovic
But Chardy, ranked 68 in the world, proved unable to tame the Serbian for long, and Djokovic took full control of sets two and three to turn the match into a procession.

"Today I feel really happy with the way I played," said Djokovic. "I feel very comfortable playing on this court and hopefully it'll get better in the next match.

"Jeremy and I have known each other for a long time and grew up together. He has a big serve but I played impressively in the second and third sets."

In the wake of his victory, Djokovic dismissed Andy Murray's credentials as a challenger for this year's Australian Open title.

"He's done a lot in the last couple months, and he's a very talented player and we can expect him to win some Grand Slams in the future.

"But you cannot put him as the favourite next to Roger and Rafa and myself here."

Ferrer said he was low on confidence after his draining first-round clash with Denis Gremelmayr.

But he took just 74 minutes to defeat 31-year-old world number 251 Hrbaty, who entered the main draw through qualifying.

Ferrer will face 19th seed Cilic in the third round after the 20-year-old Croatian bettered Serbia's Tipsarevic.

Safin, who turns 29 on Tuesday, encountered little resistance from 25-year-old Spaniard Garcia-Lopez.

Twenty-sixth seed Safin dispatched the world number 62 with ease having been threatened only in the first set, and said the prospect of facing Federer did not daunt him.

"I have nothing to worry about," he said. "I'm going to play my match. We know each other pretty well - he knows how to play against me, I know how to play against him.

"Unfortunately I haven't won a lot of matches against him, but I'm looking forward to it. I have nothing to lose."

Argentine eighth seed Juan Martin del Potro eased his way into the third round with a straight-sets victory over Florian Mayer.

Having retired hurt at the second-round stage in his last two appearances, in 2007 and 2008, he took less than two hours to beat the German qualifier 6-1 7-5 6-2.

Del Potro will now face either 16-year-old Australian Bernard Tomic or Luxembourg's Gilles Muller.

Bosnian 26-year-old Amer Delic knocked out French 28th seed Paul-Henri Mathieu in a five-set marathon, Delic fighting back from a two-set deficit to win 1-6 3-6 6-3 7-6 (7-3) 9-7.

The match was marred by the behaviour of some fans as Serbs and Bosnians traded taunts.

"They were chanting back and forth across the court and I couldn't control that," said Delic.

"I felt bad for Paul and I apologised to him right after it happened but it's tough - obviously I like those fans, they're getting me through those matches.

Switzerland's Stanislas Wawrinka, seeded 15th, dismissed Australian 19-year-old Brydan Klein in straight sets, 6-3 6-4 6-4.

Britain's Ross Hutchins and Australian Stephen Huss won their first-round doubles clash against Argentines Agustin Calleri and Eduardo Schwank 7-5 7-5.

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