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Melbourne - Roger Federer taught rising teenage star Bernard Tomic a painful lesson on Sunday, breezing past the youngster in straight sets to reach the quarter-finals at the Australian Open.
The Swiss 16-time Grand Slam champion showed all his experience in administering a clinical 6-4, 6-2, 6-2 win over the 19-year-old Australian to set up a clash with Juan Martin del Potro in Tuesday's quarter-finals.
It was an intriguing match-up on Rod Laver Arena, with Federer pitted against the unconventional skills of Tomic, who regards the Swiss as the greatest player of all time and idolised him when growing up.
Federer took control after a competitive opening set and needed 1hr 44min to wrap up a conclusive victory over the 38th-ranked youngster, whom he tips for great things.
The Swiss legend broke Tomic's serve six times and gave up his service once in dominating the evening contest with 45 winners to Tomic's 13.
Federer, who is bidding for his fifth Australian title, will now face Argentine 11th seed del Potro, who beat him in the 2009 US Open final for his only Grand Slam title.
"I thought I played a really good match. I knew I had to, anything else and I wouldn't have got the job done," the Swiss third seed said.
"The score would suggest otherwise. If you hadn't seen the match you would think straight sets, no problem, but I had to work extremely hard and Bernard showed why he is going to be a great player in the future.
"He's had a wonderful tournament and you shouldn't take anything away from him."
