Federer, Djokovic, Serena, Gauff all advance to 3rd round

MELBOURNE (Reuters) – Roger Federer collected his 99th Australian Open victory and reached the third round for the 21st time at the event with a 6-1, 6-4, 6-1 win on Wednesday against Filip Krajinovic of Serbia.

The six-time Australian champion, 38, improved to 41-0 in the first two rounds here, finishing the one-hour, 32-minute victory with 14 aces, seven service breaks, 42 winners and just 14 unforced errors.

Federer is already the only man to win 100 matches at a Grand Slam event, having won a record 101 times at Wimbledon.

Defending champion and No. 2 seed Novak Djokovic of Serbia also advanced in straight sets, finishing with almost as many aces (16) as unforced errors (17) in a 6-1, 6-4, 6-2 defeat of Japan’s Tatsuma Ito. He won 93 percent (43 of 46) of his first-serve points.

On the women’s side, Serena Williams fought off scrappy Tamara Zidansek 6-2, 6-3 to move into the third round.

The seven-time Australian Open champion and winner of 23 Grand Slam titles, moved into the third round for the 19th time in 20 career Melbourne appearances. The 38-year-old American’s opponent in the next round will be Qiang Wang of China, who defeated Fiona Ferro of France 6-1, 6-2.

Also advancing to the third round was 15-year-old Coco Gauff, who came from behind to defeat Romanian Sorana Cirstea, 4-6, 6-3, 7-5.

Gauff next will face third-seeded Naomi Osaka of Japan, who ousted Saisai Zheng of China 6-2, 6-4. It will be a rematch of the third round of the US Open last summer, when Osaka defeated Gauff 6-3, 6-0 at Arthur Ashe Stadium.

Australian Open early-round coverage (live on Eurosport and Eurosport2 from 2 a.m.)