Djokovic, Federer cruise as seeds charge into Australian Open third round

Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic helped restore order to the proceedings at the Australian Open following a wild second day that featured seven five-setters–including Fernando Verdasco’s upset of Rafael Nadal. Federer beat Alexandr Dolgopolov in straight sets, Djokovic held off Quentin Halys in three, and all 16 of the favorites won their matches on Wednesday.

Federer made one of the most dangerous unseeded players in the draw look like an innocent bystander, as the 34-year-old Swiss crushed  Dolgopolov 6-3, 7-5, 6-1 in just one hour and 33 minutes. Federer fired 25 aces, double-faulted just twice, and did not face a single break point.

“It’s the only shot that we can actually really control,” Federer said of the serve. “The rest we are reacting to. And then I thought today I did serve very well. You know, Dolgopolov maybe wasn’t seeing it as well. But also conditions are fast during the daytime, so that helps to be able to serve through opponents. It’s also harder to return, clearly.

“I’m happy I got crucial first break in the first set. I think it was a big set for me. Then second set was the key, really, because it was close for a while. I had missed some chances. I was keeping it up, you know, serving well, keeping the pressure on, and finally then found the break end of the second.”

Federer-Dolgopolov highlights:

Like Federer, Djokovic also dealt with just one difficult set. After storming through the first two, the top-ranked Serb was pushed to a tiebreaker by Halys but he managed to defeat the young Frenchman 6-1,6-2, 7-6(3). Djokovic served at a mediocre 61 percent but he struck nine aces without double-faulting and won 86 percent of his first-serve points.

“I think I played a good match,” Djokovic assessed. “Third set was a close set. Was a battle. Credit to him for fighting, for serving well. I held my nerves and played a solid tennis. He deserved the credit and applause in the end of the match for a fight.”

Djokovic-Halys highlights:

Amazing shot by Halys:

Other seeds advancing on Wednesday were Andreas Seppi, Gilles Simon, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, Kei Nishikori, Grigor Dimitrov, Dominic Thiem, David Goffin, Marin Cilic, Roberto Bautista Agut, Nick Kyrgios, and Tomas Berdych. Of those victorious seeds, only Simon and Bautista Agut needed five sets. Simon outlasted Evgeny Donskoy 7-5 in the fifth, while Bautista Agut came back from two sets to one down against Dusan Lajovic to dominate the fourth and fifth 6-2, 6-1, respectively.

Simon-Donskoy highlights:

The Federer-Berdych section of the draw features all eight seeds in the third round.
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