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Melbourne - World No 3 Roger Federer cruised into the Australian Open third round with a smooth, straight-sets win over practice partner Alexandr 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.
" Alexandr 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.
"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."
Results from the Australian Open Grand Slam at Melbourne Park on Wednesday:
Men
Second round
Federico Del Bonis (ARG) bt Renzo Olivo (ARG) 7-6 (7/5), 3-6, 6-7 (3/7), 7-5, 6-2
Gilles Simon (FRA x14) bt Evgeny Donskoy (RUS) 6-3, 5-7, 7-6 (7/1), 4-6, 7-5
Kei Nishikori (JPN x7) bt Austin Krajicek (USA) 6-3, 7-6 (7/5), 6-3
Roger Federer (SUI x3) bt Alexandr Dolgopolov (UKR) 6-3, 7-5, 6-1
Grigor Dimitrov (BUL x27) bt Marco Trungelliti (ARG) 6-3, 4-6, 6-2, 7-5
Dominic Thiem (AUT x19) bt Nicolas Almagro (ESP) 6-3, 6-1, 6-3
David Goffin (BEL x15) bt Damir Dzumhur (BIH) 6-4, 0-6, 6-4, 6-2
Marin Cilic (CRO x12) bt Albert Ramos (ESP) 6-4, 6-3, 7-6 (7/4)
Roberto Bautista (ESP x24) bt Dusan Lajovic (SRB) 4-6, 6-2, 4-6, 6-2, 6-1
Tomas Berdych (CZE x6) bt Mirza Basic (BIH) 6-4, 6-0, 6-3
Women
Second round
Serena Williams (USA x1) bt Hsieh Su-Wei (TPE) 6-1, 6-2
Darya Kasatkina (RUS) bt Ana Konjuh (CRO) 6-4, 6-3
Belinda Bencic (SUI x12) bt Timea Babos (HUN) 6-3, 6-3
Kateryna Bondarenko (UKR) bt Svetlana Kuznetsova (RUS x23) 6-1, 7-5
Lauren Davis (USA) bt Magdalena Rybarikova (SVK) 7-6 (9/7) abandon
Maria Sharapova (RUS x5) bt Aliaksandra Sasnovich (BLR) 6-2, 6-1
Anna-Lena Friedsam (GER) bt Wang Qiang (CHN) 6-3, 6-4
Roberta Vinci (ITA x13) bt Irina Falconi (USA) 6-2, 6-3
