2011 Australian Open Update: Swiss man Roger Federer steamrolls his way through to round four
Defending champion Roger Federer of Switzerland annihilated Belgium's Xavier Malisse in the third round match played between the two on Friday at the 2011 Australian Open to overhaul the Open Era record set by tennis legend Stefan
Edberg of Sweden.
Achieving his 57th career win at the championship, Federer initiated the match with a 6-3 win in the first set and took the second set 6-3 shortly before the professional brought a close to the game, taking the third
set 6-1 to eliminate Malisse from the men's singles category at the 2011 Australian Open. Sharing a 5-final appearance record with Edberg, Roger stated, "It's very nice, but he still stays my idol."
Malisse made it through to the third round upon defeating the 25th seed, Albert Montanes in the second round match played between the two. Montanes was beaten 6-4 in the first set, 6-0 in the second set and 6-1 in the
deciding third set. Earlier, Montanes battled it out against Germany's Dustin Brown, who was beaten 6-4, 6-2, 3-6, 2-6 and 7-5 to be sent home.
Meanwhile, Federer was opposed by Frenchman Gilles Simon in the second round match of his draw. Roger took the first set 6-2 and followed up with a 6-3 win in the second set. However, Simon turned the tables on Federer, taking the next two sets 6-4 and 6-4
to level up with the Swiss man. The arduous five set match was brought to a close as Federer took the deciding fifth set 6-3, to advance in the tournament.
Simon defeated Lu Yen-hsun of China in the first round to face Federer in the second. Lu was beaten 7-6, 6-2, 6-4 and 6-2 to be eliminated from the event. Meanwhile, Federer faced Slovakia's Lukas Lacko in the first round match
played between the two. Roger took the first set 6-1, the second set 6-1 and the deciding third set 6-3.
Furthermore, the professional will be opposing Spaniard Tommy Robredo in the fourth round of the championship. Robredo eliminated Ukraine's Sergiy Stakhovsky, 5-7, 6-2, 6-4 and 6-2 to be put through to the fourth round of the 2011
Australian Open.
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