Australian Open - Men: Easy for Federer

Eurosport - Fri, 23 Jan 21:11:00 2009

Roger Federer stayed on track for a record-equalling 14th Grand Slam title as he swatted aside former champion Marat Safin in the third round of the Australian Open in Melbourne.

TENNIS 2009 Australian Open Safin M. - Federer R. - 0

The anticipated clash of tennis juggernauts failed to materialise as the Swiss totally dominated the match between former world number ones to win 6-3 6-2 7-6 under floodlights.

Serbia's Novak Djokovic recovered from dropping his first set of the tournament to beat American Amer Delic 6-2 4-6 6-3 7-6.

The defending champion lost the second set after a brief lapse in concentration but regained his composure to win the next two, despite being pushed to a tiebreaker in the fourth.

Delic, who was promoted to the main draw as a lucky loser when Nicolas Kiefer pulled out, troubled the world number three with his booming serve but Djokovic's big-match experience proved decisive.

Djokovic's next opponent will be 97-ranked Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis, who disposed of 23-seeded American Mardy Fish in straight sets 6-2 6-4 6-4.

Fish made too many unforced errors, seeking to come in close far too often and giving away points as a result.

Backed by a vociferous following in the stands, Baghdatis - who, like Fish, struggled on his serve - took a more measured approach to seal the win.

Seventh seed Andy Roddick brought Fabrice Santoro's last Australian Open appearance to an end with a 6-3 6-4 6-2 victory.

The 36-year-old Frenchman, who was the oldest man in the main draw, has said that 2009 is his final year on the ATP Tour.

Roddick had no sentimentality for the wily French player who was appearing in his 66th Grand Slam tournament, blasting him off court in 98 minutes, slamming down 22 aces in the process.

Santoro was loudly cheered by a small contingent of French fans and given a bottle of champagne at a special presentation by tournament director Craig Tiley after the match on the secondary show court on Hisense Arena.

Roddick will meet Spain's Tommy Robredo in the fourth round after he comfortably beat Taiwan's Lu Yen-hsun 6-1 6-3 6-2.

Spain's David Ferrer, the 11th seed who was beaten by Djokovic in the quarter-finals last year, crashed out to Croatia's Marin Cilic 7-6 6-3 6-4.

Cilic will now meet dangerous Argentine eighth seed Juan Martin del Potro who came from a set down to beat Luxembourg's Gilles Muller 6-7 7-5 6-3 7-5.

In a match lasting almost three-and-a-half hours, del Potro weathered some brilliant serving from Muller to reach the fourth round of a Grand Slam for the first time, surpassing his third-round effort at the US Open in 2006.

See the Australian Open live all the way to the final on February 1 on the Eurosport Player. Access live action each day from up to five different courts in Melbourne and catch up on the big games through video on demand. Click on the link under the picture to subscribe.

Reuters / AFP

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  1. Post 12:Rafa played with

    From ola azmy, on Fri 23 Jan 1:25PM

  2. re no 14 this is one britain who hopes Tsonga does take out murray the over-rated muppet. GO FEDERER

    From Annamarie G, on Fri 23 Jan 1:24PM

  3. lol still no sign of Federer beating Safin.
    Eurosport must be so pissed off and now onece again they are trying to find the 'good' words to explain his victory.

    From mauricechlela, on Fri 23 Jan 1:04PM

  4. Nobody noticed the resemblance between Delic and Federer?

    From catalina, on Fri 23 Jan 12:58PM

  5. tennis the worlds most boring sport, watched and played by people with personality by-passes

    From skyrmel, on Fri 23 Jan 12:36PM

  6. Tsonga will kick Murray's @#$%, and you all britans, will cry! HAHA.

    From IlDoctore, on Fri 23 Jan 11:00AM

  7. invalid site

    From carlos480bc, on Fri 23 Jan 10:05AM

  8. Why is everyone writing off Nadal? He is number one after all and he seems to have gotten over his health problems. He does have tough opponents on his side of the draw, a lot tougher than Fed or Djok, but he is a lot more experienced and a lot more determined. So I'd vote for Rafa.

    From Jimmy, on Fri 23 Jan 8:43AM

  9. yes mauriBICHelela, some serious opponent can take out Novak, but Roddik HA HA HA :-)

    From Igor K, on Fri 23 Jan 8:37AM

  10. Djokobitch will go out once he gets a worthy opponent. My money will be on Roddick to take him out.

    From mauricechlela, on Fri 23 Jan 8:23AM

  11. Delic play very much brilliant points, but inexperienced and playing very aggressive, so as a result, also lots of unforced errors.
    But Novak let him play so aggressive - he is not looking like himself. I don’t know, but definitely he is not on the level like he was when won the Championships last year.
    He plays to passive, lots of soft balls in the middle, also unusual mistakes from clean situation. Absolutely didn’t make his rhythm. Looks totlay without sharpness.
    Only good thing was his serve.. I think he improved his serve with a new racquet, on the other side lost precision during the points. Winners, where are they gone ?
    Yes Delic plaid very very good, but Novak had to dictate tempo, no meter Delic`s great serve !
    I’m not so optimistic really, I know he needs even more time to adjust to a new request, Winning Baghdadis or Fish should not be a problem, even with this level of form.
    But after that ? Definitely has to improve his game and to be more aggressive and to dictate the tempo, no meter errors !
    I really belive he will ! GO NOVAK !

    From Igor K, on Fri 23 Jan 8:04AM

  12. who is Delic?

    From Half A Brain, on Fri 23 Jan 7:51AM

  13. i don't think Novak will make the semis either way (Jimmy, 1st comment) because his season has started quite slow compared to Fedex n Nadal (not to mention Murray). I'm tipping a Murray/Federer final unless both are in the same side of the draw and could meet earlier...

    From Adeleke, on Fri 23 Jan 7:49AM

  14. i don't think Murray would've done better facing the Delic Novak faced. i have to say, he was superb apart from the unforced errors. his serve was great and his risk taking paid off. credit to Amer. don't write off Djokovic just yet, everyone admits there is pressure on the player defending his first grand slam. in the bigger matches he will be back to his best, hopefully. still hoping for a Djokovic-Murray final. Napred Nole!

    From aleksicn93, on Fri 23 Jan 7:12AM

  15. delic played pretty good..alots of unforced errors by him

    From Emin, on Fri 23 Jan 6:49AM

  16. l

    From Emin, on Fri 23 Jan 6:48AM

  17. Perhaps he would do better to concentrate on his own game rather than rubbishing Murray. Based on todays performances, Murray looks far more likely to be challenging at the business end of the competition.

    From big_davey_b, on Fri 23 Jan 6:42AM

  18. If Djokovic keeps this up, he'll never get to the semis.

    From Jimmy, on Fri 23 Jan 5:56AM
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