Melbourne, Jan 18:
Defending champion Roger Federer cooly swept into the Australian Open third round today as Novak Djokovic survived a gruelling fitness test under the brutal Melbourne sun.
But with temperatures touching an energy-sapping 40 Celsius and ice-towels in use, third seed Garbine Muguruza and 2014 winner Stan Wawrinka both wilted and were knocked out.
Maria Sharapova, in contrast, laid down her title credentials with dominant win against 14th seed Anastasija Sevastova.
World number one Simona Halep was also convincing in her straight demolition of Canadian Eugenie Bouchard.
Swiss 19-time Grand Slam champion Federer disposed of Jan-Lennard Struff 6-4 6-4 7-6 (7/4), avoiding the worse of the furnace-like conditions in his night match.
“I practice with him so I had the information I needed,” he said, adding that the heat doesn’t bother him.
“If you want to get to the top, you’ve got to play in all conditions.”
It was never going to be easy for the German. While Federer had made at least the third round each year since his Melbourne Park debut in 2000, Struff had failed to go further than the second round at any Grand Slam.
Six-time Melbourne champion Djokovic had a much tougher time, coming through a four-setter against Gael Monfils in a thorough examination after being out for six months with an elbow injury.
He lost the first set before Monfils began struggling in the second and was heard at one point telling the umpire: “I’m tired and dizzy.”
Meanwhile, Veteran Leander Paes and Purav Raja outplayed their opponents to progress to the men’s doubles second round at the Australian Open and were joined by Rohan Bopanna and Divij Sharan with their respective partners.
Paes and Raja dispatched the pair of Nikoloz Basilashvili and Andreas Haider-Maurer by 6-2 & 6-3 in their opening round.
They have a tough job at hand as now they are up against fifth seeds Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares, one of the most consistent teams in the previous season.
Left-handed Divij, who had a great 2017 season, and American Rajeev Ram, seeded 16th, edged out Marius Copil of Romania and Serbia’s Viktor Troicki 7-6(5) 6-4 in their opening round.
They will now fight it out with Fabio Fognini and Marcel Granollers.
Meanwhile, 10th seeds Rohan Bopanna and Edouard Roger- Vasselin fought off a late charge from Ryan Harrison and Vasek Pospisil to prevail 6-2 7-6(5).
Bopanna saved a break chance in the sixth game of the second set to remain unbroken, forcing a tie breaker.
Pospisil, who was broken in the sixth game of the opening set, served consecutive double faults in the tie-breaker to hand advantage to Bopanna and Roger-Vasselin. (Agencies)
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