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MELBOURNE - Waltzing around court with effortless ease, Roger Federer put tennis back under the spotlight at the Australian Open yesterday.
On-court action during the opening two days of the Grand Slam had been overshadowed by brawling fans and the sweltering weather conditions.
Yesterday Federer set the agenda
as his pursuit of a 10th Grand Slam title gathered pace with a 6-2, 6-3, 6-2 win over Swedish doubles specialist Jonas Bjorkman.
The defending champion swatted the ball away to seal victory in 95 minutes and extend his perfect record to 5-0 against a player who has never managed to win a set off the Swiss maestro.
While Federer barely broke sweat during the match, the WTA said the tournament's extreme heat policy would need to be reviewed after Tuesday's sizzling temperatures at Melbourne Park caused distress to several players.
Federer said: "Going out on the court, it gets so hot like you can't believe. It's not only the heat from the sun, but especially from underneath. This is what's really killing the players. The feet are just on fire."
Andy Roddick kept up his end of the deal to what could be an explosive third-round showdown with Marat Safin.
The American beat Frenchman Marc Gicquel 6-3, 7-6, 6-4.
Twice former champion Serena Williams sputtered and then powered to a 7-6, 6-2 win over Anne Kremer of Luxembourg.
With fifth seed Nadia Petrova up next for the American, she can ill afford the concentration lapses that peppered the first set.
Russians Svetlana Kuznetsova and Petrova seemed to be in a hurry to get out of the humid conditions.
Third seed Kuznetsova romped past Australian wildcard Monique Adamczak 6-2, 6-1, and Petrova was equally emphatic in her 6-1, 6-2 win over Argentine Gisela Dulko.
They were joined in the third round by in-form Serbian 11th seed Jelena Jankovic, who won the ASB Classic in Auckland, who beat Virginia Ruano Pascual of Spain 6-2, 6-2.
With Tuesday's draining conditions having caused the suspension of many matches, seeds Patty Schnyder, Dinara Safina and Daniela Hantuchova were all relieved to win their delayed first-round matches in straight sets.
Serbian 14th seed Novak Djokovic's run towards a possible fourth-round showdown with Federer gathered momentum when he hurtled past Spaniard Feliciano Lopez 6-2, 7-5, 6-1.
Lleyton Hewitt says the memories of his famous Davis Cup triumph over Federer at Rod Laver Arena four years ago helped keep his Open dream alive.
Hewitt faces Canadian Frank Dancevic today for a place in the last 32 after denying American qualifier Michael Russell 3-6, 2-6, 6-3, 6-3, 6-3 in a 3 1/2-hour epic that finished after 1am yesterday. While the victory enhanced Hewitt's status as the king of five-set tennis, only twice before - against Federer in Australia's Davis Cup semifinal defeat of Switzerland in 2003 and against Guillermo Canas at the 2001 French Open - has the former world No 1 prevailed after conceding the first two sets of a match.
Hewitt has won 22 of his 31 encounters that have gone the full distance, including 11 of his last 12.
It is a strike rate second to none on the ATP tour.
Among Australians all-time, only the legendary Rod Laver, with an 18-from-23 success rate, and Ross Case (11 from 15), have superior five-set records.
MAIN GAMES TODAY
Women's singles, 2nd round:
4-Kim Clijsters (BEL) v Akiko Morigami (JPN), Alla Kudryavtseva (RUS) v 6-Martina Hingis (SUI), 1-Maria Sharapova (RUS) v Anastassia Rodionova (RUS).
Men's singles, 2nd round:
5-James Blake (US) v Alex Kuznetsov (US), 19-Lleyton Hewitt (AUS) v Frank Dancevic (CAN), Philipp Kohlschreiber (GER) v Rafael Nadal (ESP), 15-Andy Murray (GBR) v Fernando Verdasco (ESP).
- REUTERS