Federer was dominating in a 6-2, 6-3, 6-1 victory Wednesday over No. 118 Evgeny Korolev, a Russian who has never made it past the second round in a major. It took just 86 minutes.
Affected by mononucleosis, Federer lost in the semifinals at Melbourne last year. He looks to be in top form now and next plays Marat Safin, the Russian who beat him in the semifinals en route to the 2005 Australian Open championship.
In other action on Wednesday, defending champion Novak Djokovic earned a 7-5, 6-1, 6-3 win over Frenchman Jeremy Chardy.
Chardy matched the third-ranked Djokovic shot for shot before wilting while trying to force a tiebreaker in the first set.
Djokovic, who ended Roger Federer’s 19-match winning streak at Melbourne Park in last year’s semifinals, was dominating on his serve against Chardy, faltering only when he was broken at love while serving for the match.
But he broke right back, finishing it off when Chardy netted a forehand on match point.
“Today I feel really happy with the way I played,” Djokovic said. “I played very well in the second and third sets.”
In other men’s action, No. 11 David Ferrer of Spain had a 6-2, 6-2, 6-1 win over 31-year-old qualifier Dominik Hrbaty, who helped Slovakia win the Hopman Cup title in Perth earlier this month.
2005 champion Marat Safin, set up a potential third-round matchup with Federer, whom he beat en route to his title here four years ago. Safin beat Guillermo Garcia-Lopez of Spain 7-5, 6-2, 6-2.
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