MELBOURNE: World number two Roger Federer continued his charge towards a 20th Grand Slam title with a 6-4, 6-4, 7-6 (7-4) win over German Jan-Lennard Struff in the second round of the Australian Open on Thursday while several seeded players crashed out.

With temperatures touching an energy-sapping 40 Celsius (104 Fahrenheit) and ice-towels in use, 2014 champion Stan Wawrinka’s knee injury came back to haunt him as he hobbled out of the tournament with a limp 6-2, 6-1, 6-4 defeat to American Tennys Sandgren, whose compatriot Sam Querrey and seventh-seed David Goffin were also knocked out.

Wimbledon champion Garbine Muguruza and Britain’s ninth-seeded Johanna Konta were among the five seeded women to lose after suffering shock defeats to Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and American Bernarda Pera respectively.

But Serbian Novak Djokovic survived a gruelling fitness test under the brutal Melbourne sun as he progressed to the third round with a 4-6, 6-3, 6-1, 6-3 win over France’s Gael Monfils.

Women’s world number one Simona Halep swept past Canadian Eugenie Bouchard to book a third round spot and will be joined by several top contenders including Russian Maria Sharapova, home favourite Ashleigh Barty and German Angelique Kerber.

Sharapova and Kerber will face off in an eye-watering third round fixture on Saturday while men’s fourth-seed Alexander Zverev will take on Next Gen ATP Finals champion Chung Hyeon.

Swiss 19-time Grand Slam champion Federer disposed Struff , avoiding the worse of the furnace-like conditions in his night match.

“I practice with him so I had the information I needed,” he said, adding that the heat doesn’t bother him. “If you want to get to the top, you’ve got to play in all conditions.”

The heat took its toll on a host of players, including Muguruza, who suffered with heat-blistered feet. She was knocked out by 88-ranked Hsieh 7-6 (7-1), 6-4 but refused to make excuses.

“I maybe could have done things better, but at the end, she deserves to win,” she said.

Wawrinka also failed to progress, clearly still struggling from a lengthy knee injury lay-off in his straight sets defeat by Sandgren.

“I only had surgery five months ago,” said Wawrinka, who still has a visible scar running down his left knee. “To be that far already, it’s more than what we could have expected.”

Six-time champion Djokovic survived the round, but complained of the “brutal” heat in a comeback four-set win over an ailing Monfils that extended his record to 15-0 in their career head-to-heads.

Russian drawcard Sharapova was on Rod Laver Arena early and avoided the brunt of the weather as she showed why she should be again taken seriously in dismantling Sevastova 6-1, 7-6 (7-4).

Next up is in-form 2016 Australian Open champion Kerber, who had a 6-4, 6-1 win over Donna Vekic.

Still aiming for a first major, Halep, a two-time French Open finalist, held off 2014 Wimbledon finalist Bouchard 6-2, 6-2 and next plays Lauren Davis.

Thursday’s results (prefix number denotes seeding):

Men’s singles:

Second round: 5-Dominic Thiem (Austria) bt Denis Kudla (US) 6-7 (6-8), 3-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-3; 26-Adrian Mannarino (France) bt Jiri Vesely (Czech Republic) 6-3, 7-6 (7-4), 5-7, 6-3; Maximilian Marterer (Germany) bt Fernando Verdasco (Spain) 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 (7-5), 3-6, 6-3; Tennys Sandgren (US) bt 9-Stanislas Wawrinka (Switzerland) 6-2, 6-1, 6-4; 14-Novak Djokovic (Serbia) bt Gael Monfils (France) 4-6, 6-3, 6-1, 6-3; 21-Albert Ramos-Vinolas (Spain) bt Tim Smyczek (US) 6-4, 6-2, 7-6 (7-2); Hyeon Chung (South Korea) bt Daniil Medvedev (Russia) 7-6 (7-4), 6-1, 6-1; 4-Alexander Zverev (Germany) bt Peter Gojowczyk (Germany) 6-1, 6-3, 4-6, 6-3; Julien Benneteau (France) bt 7-David Goffin (Belgium) 1-6, 7-6 (7-5), 6-1, 7-6 (7-4); 25-Fabio Fognini (Italy) bt Evgeny Donskoy (Russia) 2-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-1; 19-Tomas Berdych (Czech Republic) bt Guillermo Garcia-Lopez (Spain) 6-3, 2-6, 6-2, 6-3; 12-Juan Martin del Potro (Argentina) bt Karen Khachanov (Russia) 6-4, 7-6 (7-4), 6-7 (0-7), 6-4; Marton Fucsovics (Hungary) bt 13-Sam Querrey (US) 6-4, 7-6 (8-6), 4-6, 6-2; Nicolas Kicker (Argentina) bt Lukas Lacko (Slovakia) 6-2, 7-5, 1-6, 7-5; 29-Richard Gasquet (France) bt Lorenzo Sonego (Italy) 6-2, 6-2, 6-3; 2-Roger Federer (Switzerland) bt Jan-Lennard Struff (Germany) 6-4, 6-4, 7-6 (7-4).

Women’s singles:

Second round: 1-Simona Halep (Romania) bt Eugenie Bouchard (Canada) 6-2, 6-2; Lauren Davis (US) bt Andrea Petkovic (Germany) 4-6, 6-0, 6-0; 18-Ashleigh Barty (Australia) bt Camila Giorgi (Italy) 5-7, 6-4, 6-1; Naomi Osaka (Japan) bt 16-Elena Vesnina (Russia) 7-6 (7-4), 6-2; Bernarda Pera (US) bt 9-Johanna Konta (Great Britain) 6-4, 7-5; 20-Barbora Strycova (Czech Republic) bt Lara Arruabarrena (Spain) 6-3, 6-4; 29-Lucie Safarova (Czech Republic) bt Sorana Cirstea (Romania) 6-2, 6-4; 6-Karolina Pliskova (Czech Republic) bt Beatriz Haddad Maia (Brazil) 6-1, 6-1; Su-Wei Hsieh (Taiwan) bt 3-Garbine Muguruza (Spain) 7-6 (7-1), 6-4; 26-Agnieszka Radwanska (Poland) bt Lesia Tsurenko (Ukraine) 2-6, 7-5, 6-3; 21-Angelique Kerber (Germany) bt Donna Vekic (Croatia) 6-4 6-1 Maria Sharapova (Russia) bt 14-Anastasija Sevastova (Latvia) 6-1, 7-6 (7-4); Ana Bogdan (Romania) bt Yulia Putintseva (Kazakhstan) 1-6, 6-2, 6-3; 17-Madison Keys (US) bt Ekaterina Alexandrova (Russia) 6-0, 6-1; Aliaksandra Sasnovich (Belarus) bt 28-Mirjana Lucic-Baroni (Croatia) 6-3, 6-1; 8-Caroline Garcia (France) bt Marketa Vondrousova (Czech Republic) 6-7 (3-7), 6-2, 8-6.

Published in Dawn, January 19th, 2018