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Fed Express on a roll
19/01/2007 11:53 - (SA)
Melbourne - Roger Federer rolled into the fourth round of the Australian Open Friday with a straight sets win over Russian 25th seed Mikhail on Youzhny.
The world number one was untouchable in the opening two sets but suffered his first and only service break of the match in the seventh game of the third set before clinching it in a tiebreaker.
Federer, bidding for his third Australian crown and 10th Grand Slam title, downed Youzhny, 6-3, 6-3, 7-6 (7/5) in just over two hours on Rod Laver Arena.
The Swiss top seed will now have a fourth round match with exciting Serbian teenager Novak Djokovic, who ousted Thailand's Danai Udomchoke.
It was Federer's 32nd consecutive match win as he closes in on his personal best unbeaten streak of 35 matches set in 2005.
He was in imperious form, racing through the opening two sets with three service breaks, leaving Youzhny shaking his head at his mastery.
But Youzhny clawed back from an early service break down in the third set to break Federer's serve for the only time and take the set into a tiebreaker.
Yet again Federer stormed to four match points in the tiebreaker, of which Youzhny saved three, before the Swiss claimed victory.
"He came up with some really good shots and is starting to put it together on the match courts," Federer said of Youzhny.
"He beat Rafael Nadal at last year's US Open so I knew it was going to be a tough match today."
Yet Youzhny failed to take a set off Federer, who has now won all their eight matches, only dropping two sets along the way.
- AFP
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