Federer, Roddick advance
MELBOURNE, Australia – Roger Federer made sure he did not repeat his lapses from his opening match in today’s second-round win over Jonas Bjorkman at the Australian Open.
Defending champion Federer advanced to the third round with 6-2, 6-3, 6-2 win, improving to 5-0 in career head-to-head meetings without dropping a set.
It was Federer’s second lopsided win over Bjorkman in the last three Slams after a straight-sets win over the 34-year-old Swede at Wimbledon.
“Jonas is a great guy, he always puts up a good fight,” said Federer, targeting a 10th Grand Slam title. “Today it went my way, I’m playing pretty well right now.”
Unlike his opening match against Bjorn Phau, when Federer lost serve three times in the first set, he came out sharp, ripping six forehand winners in the first three games as he jumped to a 3-0 lead that he never relinquished.
He had a stretch of three service games spanning the second and third sets when he did not allow a point.
Bjorkman had his share of fans sprinkled in the near-capacity crowd on a humid day that started overcast, unlike Tuesday’s broiling sun. One group, in hats, shirts and face paint in Swedish blue-and-yellow, chanted support for Bjorkman and rewarded his winners with “That’s the way, uh-huh, uh-huh, we like it.”
Federer made sure there was not much for them to like, hitting 38 clean winners and dropping serve once in the first and third sets.
Bjorkman had his biggest success challenging calls, getting three reversed on video replays – and breaking Federer’s serve twice after doing so.
Federer served for the match just as the sun broke through the clouds. On match point, he jumped high for an overhead. Bjorkman got it back, only to have Federer whack another overhead, this time out of reach.
Federer could meet U.S. Open semifinalist Mikhail Youzhny in the third round and possibly a fourth-round match against No. 14-seeded Novak Djokovic, who beat Feliciano Lopez 6-2, 7-5, 6-1.
American Andy Roddick won in straight sets, 6-3, 7-6 (4), 6-4 over France’s Marc Gicquel.
Thailand’s Danai Udomchoke upset former No. 24 Juan Carlos Fererro 7-6 (0), 7-5, 4-6, 6-1 to take another former world No. 1 out of the equation.
A former Australian Open champion tumbled, with 2002 winner Thomas Johansson losing to No. 16 David Ferrer in four sets.
Australia wildcard entry Wayne Arthurs, aged 35 and possibly in his last Grand Slam, advanced to the third round with a 6-7 (5), 6-1, 6-4, 6-4 over American qualifier Zach Fleishman, who had his hair died in red, white and blue stripes for the match.
The heat that forced dozens of matches to be delayed until after sundown on Tuesday, had relented by Wednesday morning, with matches on all courts starting on time in temperatures around 90 degrees.
It was about 10 degrees cooler in overcast conditions two hours later when the Federer-Bjorkman matched began.
Former U.S. Open women’s champion Svetlana Kuznetsova, the No. 3 seed, beat Monique Adamczak of Australia 6-2, 6-1 in the first match at Rod Laver Arena.
Jelena Jankovic continued her solid start to the year. The No. 11 seed followed up a title and a finals appearance by advancing to the third round here with a 6-2, 6-2 victory over Virginia Ruano Pascual.
The 12 women’s first-round matches held over from Tuesday were finished early on the third day. No. 8 Patty Schnyder, No. 9 Dinara Safina, No. 15 Daniela Hantuchova, No. 17 Anna-Lena Groenefeld and No. 19 Li Na of China all advanced.