Federer, Ivanovic, Djokovic in third round

KATHMANDU, Jan 21: Roger Federer´s quest for a record 14th major got more compelling when he set up a third-round match with Marat Safin at the Australian Open, the Associated Press reported Wednesday.[break]

Second-ranked Federer dominated in a 6-2, 6-3, 6-1 victory over No. 118 Evgeny Korolev, needing just 86 minutes to move one step closer to equalling Pete Sampras´ record for Grand Slam singles titles.

With Swiss flags scattered around Rod Laver Arena, Federer gave notice he was on top of his game with back-to-back aces in the first game.

Safin, who beat Federer in the semifinals here en route to winning the 2005 championship, beat Guillermo Garcia-Lopez of Spain 7-5, 6-2, 6-2.

"I´m happy to be playing Marat, we have fought some battles," Federer said. "We had the epic in 2005."

The mercurial Russian, who will turn 29 next week, saved a match point and won 9-7 in the fifth set of his semifinal against Federer four years ago. He is one of only two men who´ve beaten Federer in the last five Australian Open tournaments.

The other, defending champion Novak Djokovic, remained on course for a semifinal rematch with Federer when he beat Frenchman Jeremy Chardy 7-5, 6-1, 6-3.

The 21-year-old Serb next faces Bosnian-born Amer Delic who got a spot in the draw as a lucky loser from qualifying when other players withdrew. Delic rallied from two sets down to beat No. 28 Paul-Henri Mathieu of France 1-6, 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (3), 9-7.

Two of Djokovic´s fellow Serbs advanced as expected on the women´s side.

Fifth-seeded Ana Ivanovic beat Italian Alberta Brianti 6-3, 6-2 and top-ranked Jelena Jankovic advanced 6-4, 7-5 over Kirsten Flipkens of Belgium.

Jankovic, the only member of the top Serbian trio yet to win a major, needed a medical time out for treatment on her right foot in the first set and was broken three times in a tougher-than-expected 1-hour, 46-minute match.

Ivanovic lost the last Australian Open final to Maria Sharapova, then won her first Grand Slam title at the French Open and gained the No. 1 ranking.

Now seeded fifth, she is drawing inspiration from her last run here. Sharapova is not defending the title because of a shoulder injury.

"I was in this situation before French Open last year, coming into the tournament as pretty serious finalist," she said. "That experience will help me a lot to approach this Australian Open."

Dictating play and ripping winners into the corners, Ivanovic repeatedly took advantage of Brianti´s weak serve. The 28-year-old Italian held serve only three times.

No. 3 Dinara Safina overcame 44 unforced errors in a 6-7 (3), 6-3, 6-0 win over fellow Russian Ekaterina Makarova and will next play No. 25 Kaie Kanepi of Estonia.

Safina, younger sister of Safin, lost to a qualifier in the first round here last year, but went on to reach the French Open final, take the Olympic silver medal and make the U.S. Open semifinals.

No. 10 Nadia Petrova had a 6-3, 6-2 win over India´s Sania Mirza. No. 26 Ai Sugiyama of Japan defeated Nathalie Dechy of France 1-6, 6-1, 6-3 and next faces Jankovic.

Also advancing were No. 7 Vera Zvonareva of Russia, No. 15 Alize Cornet of France and No. 19 Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia.

Among the men´s seeded players advancing were No. 11 David Ferrer of Spain, No. 15 Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland, No. 19 Marin Cilic of Croatia, No. 20 Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic, and No. 21 Tommy Robredo of Spain.