Federer perfect against practice partner Dolgopolov

January 20, 2016 | 14:43

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17-time Grand Slam champion Roger Federer defeated Ukrainian Aleksandr Dolgopolov 6-3, 7-5, 6-1 in the second round of the Australian Open.

Switzerland's Roger Federer hits a return against Ukraine's Alexandr Dolgopolov during their men's singles match on day three of the 2016 Australian Open tennis tournament in Melbourne on Jan 20, 2016. (Photo: AFP/Saeed Khan)

MELBOURNE: World number three Roger Federer cruised into the Australian Open third round with a smooth, straight-sets win over practice partner Aleksandr Dolgopolov on Wednesday.

The 17-time Grand Slam champion was never in any trouble against the 35th-ranked Ukrainian and strolled to a regulation 6-3, 7-5, 6-1 win in one hour 33 minutes on Rod Laver Arena.

It was 34-year-old Federer's 299th Grand Slam singles victory as he chases his fifth Australian crown. Federer practised with the pony-tailed Dolgopolov in Dubai in the off-season and took his record over him to 3-0.

Dolgopolov's game unravelled in the final set as the Swiss maestro put the finishing touches to a convincing win.

The third seed, who has now reached the third round in all of his 17 visits to Melbourne, broke Dolgopolov's serve five times and did not face a single break point on his own serve.

The Swiss legend hammered a total of 39 winners, which included 25 aces in a dominant serving performance.

Federer will now have a third-round encounter with either Bulgarian 27th seed Grigor Dimitrov or Argentina's Marco Trungelliti.

"I'm very happy. The conditions are extremely quick so you are not going to find that much rhythm out there," Federer said. "Aleksandr can play great when you give him too much time so maybe it wasn't a bad thing that it was as fast as it was.

He added: "But I served well and as the match went on I started to feel better and better, but the second set was crucial and I'm glad I got it done."

AFP

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