Ferrer thrashes Baghdatis

Melbourne - Spain's fourth seed David Ferrer ended the Australian Open hopes of Marcos Baghdatis on Friday, thrashing the Cypriot to make the fourth round.

Ferrer, coming off a career-best season, won 6-4, 6-2, 6-3 on Rod Laver Arena and next faces Japanese 16th seed Kei Nishikori.

The consistent and super-fit Spaniard was a class above the 28th-seeded Baghdatis, who was a Melbourne Park finalist in 2006 but has never revisited those heights.

Ferrer, elevated to number four seed following the withdrawal of last year's finalist Rafael Nadal, used his superior service game and sizzling groundstrokes to unsettle the Cypriot early on.

He got a quick break in the first set and while Baghdatis managed to claw back and keep himself in touch, once the opening set was lost he never looked like recovering.

Ferrer, who made the quarters here last year and the semis in 2011, drew 42 unforced errors out of his erratic opponent to close out the match in just 1hr 57 mins.