Cilic marches on at Australian Open

Melbourne - Former US Open champion Marin Cilic reached the last 16 at the Australian Open for the first time in seven years with a straight sets win over Ryan Harrison on Friday.

The Croatian sixth seed was too strong for the 45th-ranked American, winning 7-6 (7/4), 6-3, 7-6 (7/4) in 2hr 29min in a night match on Hisense Arena.

Cilic, last year's beaten Wimbledon finalist, will face Spanish 19th seed Pablo Carreno Busta in Sunday's fourth round.

He broke Harrison's serve twice, hit 53 winners and was solid on his own serve.

Cilic is coming off an outstanding 2017 where he lost to Roger Federer in the Wimbledon final and made the quarter-finals at Roland Garros along with climbing to a career-high ranking of four.

Results from the Australian Open on Friday:

Men's singles

3rd round

Kyle Edmund (GBR) bt Nikoloz Basilashvili (GEO) 7-6 (7/0), 3-6, 4-6, 6-0, 7-5

Pablo Carreno-Busta (ESP x10) bt Gilles Muller (LUX x23) 7-6 (7/4), 4-6, 7-5, 7-5

Grigor Dimitrov (BUL x3) bt Andrey Rublev (RUS x30) 6-3, 4-6, 6-4, 6-4

Diego Schwartzman (ARG x24) bt Alexandr Dolgopolov (UKR) 6-7 (1/7), 6-2, 6-3, 6-3

Andreas Seppi (ITA) bt Ivo Karlovic (CRO) 6-3, 7-6 (7/4), 6-7 (3/7), 6-7 (5/7), 9-7

Rafael Nadal (ESP x1) bt Damir Dzumhur (BIH x28) 6-1, 6-3, 6-1

Nick Kyrgios (AUS x17) bt Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (FRA x15) 7-6 (7/5), 4-6, 7-6 (8/6), 7-6 (7/5)

Marin Cilic (CRO x6) bt Ryan Harrison (USA) 7-6 (7/4), 6-3, 7-6 (7/4)

Women's singles

3rd round

Petra Martic (CRO) bt Luksika Kumkhum (THA) 6-3, 3-6, 7-5

Denisa Allertova (CZE) bt Magda Linette (POL) 6-1, 6-4

Elise Mertens (BEL) bt Alize Cornet (FRA) 7-5, 6-4

Elina Svitolina (UKR x4) bt Marta Kostyuk (UKR) 6-2, 6-2

Magdalena Rybarikova (SVK x19) bt Kateryna Bondarenko (UKR) 7-5, 3-6, 6-1

Carla Suarez (ESP) bt Kaia Kanepi (EST) 3-6, 6-1, 6-3