Roger Federer reaches third round with straight-sets win

Roger Federer made sure he did not repeat his lapses from his opening match in Wednesday's second-round win over Jonas Bjorkman at the Australian Open.

Photo: Roger Federer reaches third round with straight-sets win

Andy Roddick also lifted his act, and Serena Williams moved into the third round with another straight-sets win.

Defending champion Federer advanced 6-2, 6-3, 6-2, improving to 5-0 against Bjorkman without dropping a set, and shedding the nervous start he made when he dropped serve three times in his opening set of the tournament.

Sixth-seeded Roddick got over his temper tantrum of the first round, when he dropped the first set against Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and argued calls with the umpire, to beat another Frenchman, Marc Gicquel, 6-3, 7-6 (4), 6-4.

Roddick, who lost the U.S. Open final to Federer last September, fired 18 aces and did not drop serve in his two-hour win over Gicquel.

Williams, who won the last of her seven Grand Slam titles here in 2005, rallied from 1-4 in the tiebreaker in her 7-6 (4), 6-2 win over Luxembourg's Anne Kremer.

"It was tough to start with, she was really serious and played really well," Williams said. "I definitely feel like I'm getting better with each match."

It was Federer's second lopsided win over Bjorkman in the last three Slams after a straight-sets win over the 34-year-old Swede at Wimbledon.

"Jonas is a great guy, he always puts up a good fight," said Federer, targeting a 10th Grand Slam title. "Today it went my way, I'm playing pretty well right now."

Unlike his opening match against Bjorn Phau, Federer came out sharp, ripping six forehand winners in the first three games as he jumped to a 3-0 lead that he never relinquished.

He had a stretch of three service games spanning the second and third sets when he did not allow a point.

Always a perfectionist, he berated himself after errors and took practice swings to make sure he didn't repeat the mistakes.

Federer said he was more consistent, especially on the serve, against Bjorkman.

"I didn't give him so many chances like I did against Phau - I think it's a bit of an improvement, yes," he said.

Federer served for the match just as the sun broke through the clouds. On match point, he jumped high for an overhead. Bjorkman got it back, only to have Federer whack another overhead, this time out of reach.

"Yeah, it's always fun to play against Jonas, actually," he said.

Roddick was not interested in fun, getting down to plenty of work on his groundstrokes against Gicquel. The two players engaged in long rallies, moving each other from sideline to sideline.

But Roddick had too much power, particularly on his serve. After fending off three break points in the first set, he never faced another. He steadily cranked uphis serve, shouting "Yes!" after smacking an ace to finish off the second-set tiebreaker. He had three more in the next game.

He broke Gicquel in the last game to secure a place in he third round.

"I'm always a little edgy in the first rounds," Roddick said. "Today, it felt like there was some good stuff."

He'll have to be at the top of his game in the next round, with a possible showdown against 2005 Australian Open champion Marat Safin.

Safin was playing Israeli qualifier Dudi Sela on Wednesday.

"We're both maybe better than a third-round match-up against each other, but that's the way it shakes out," he said. "You know, we both have to deal with it. I'm sure he's not thrilled about it either."

Federer will meet U.S. Open semifinalist Mikhail Youzhny in the third round after the Russian beat Lu Yen-hsen of Taiwan 7-5, 6-4, 6-4.

He could possibly get a fourth-round match against 14th-seeded Novak Djokovic, who beat Feliciano Lopez 6-2, 7-5, 6-1.

Thailand's Danai Udomchoke upset former No. 24 Juan Carlos Fererro 7-6 (0), 7-5, 4-6, 6-1 to take another former world No. 1 out of the equation.

A former Australian Open champion tumbled, with 2002 winner Thomas Johansson losing to No. 16 David Ferrer in four sets, while Mardy Fish advanced over Nicolas Mahut.

Australia wild-card entry Wayne Arthurs, 35 years old and possibly in his last Grand Slam, advanced to the third round with a 6-7 (5), 6-1, 6-4, 6-4 over American qualifier Zach Fleishman, who had his hair died in red, white and blue stripes for the match.

The heat that forced dozens of matches to be delayed until after sundown on Tuesday, had relented by Wednesday morning, with matches on all courts starting on time in temperatures around 90 degrees.

It was about 10 degrees cooler in overcast conditions two hours later when the Federer-Bjorkman matched began.

Former U.S. Open women's champion Svetlana Kuznetsova, the No. 3 seed, beat Monique Adamczak of Australia 6-2, 6-1 in the first match at Rod Laver Arena, where the roof was reopened after being closed for all but one match Tuesday.

Other Russians advancing includedNo. 5 Nadia Petrova, Williams' next-round rival, and No. 7 Elena Dementieva, the AP reports.

Serbia's Jelena Jankovic continued her solid start to the year with a 6-2, 6-2 win over Virginia Ruano Pascual. The No. 11 seed followed up a title and a finals appearance by advancing to the third round here.

The 12 women's first-round matches held over from Tuesday were completed early on the third day, with No. 8 Patty Schnyder, No. 9 Dinara Safina, No. 15 Daniela Hantuchova, No. 17 Anna-Lena Groenefeld and No. 19 Li Na of China all advancing.