Australian Open 2018: Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic Highlight Thursday Results
Five-time tournament winner Roger Federer produced an assured display to down world No. 55 Jan-Lennard Struff 6-4, 6-4, 7-6 (4) in the second round of the 2018 Australian Open on Thursday.
Novak Djokovic also reached the third round as he beat Gael Monfils 4-6, 6-3, 6-1, 6-3 in the searing daytime heat, but 2014 champion Stan Wawrinka was ousted in straight sets by American Tennys Sandgren.
In the women's draw, third seed Garbine Muguruza and ninth seed Johanna Konta were both knocked out in Melbourne on Thursday, but world No. 1 Simona Halep booked her spot in the third round, as did Maria Sharapova, Angelique Kerber and Madison Keys.
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Read on for a closer look at the Day 4 action.
Selected Results
Men's Draw
(2) Roger Federer bt. Jan-Lennard Struff: 6-4, 6-4, 7-6 (4)
(14) Novak Djokovic bt, Gael Monfils: 4-6, 6-3, 6-1, 6-3
Tennys Sandgren bt. (9) Stan Wawrinka: 6-2, 6-1, 6-4
Women's Singles
Maria Sharapova bt. (14) Anastasija Sevastova: 6-1, 7-6 (4)
Su-Wei Hsieh bt. (3) Garbine Muguruza: 7-6 (1), 6-4
(1) Simona Halep bt. Eugenie Bouchard: 6-2, 6-2
Bernarda Pera bt. (9) Johanna Konta: 6-4, 7-5
Full results can be found at the Australian Open's official website.
Thursday Recap
Reigning champion Federer, 36, had to settle for a more attritional display than his first-round victory against Aljaz Bedene in order to down Struff.
It was fairly routine from the Swiss legend in the opening two sets, as he took them both with just a single break.
But Struff upped his game, particularly his serving, in the third set to begin to put pressure on Federer.
At 2-1 down in the third, the 19-time Grand Slam winner conceded his first break points, and Struff took the second of them to lead 3-1.
In typical Federer fashion, he broke back immediately, sealing the fifth game of the set with a sumptuous backhand pass and then held for 3-3.
Lesser players than Struff would have collapsed from there and allowed Federer to cruise to victory.
But the German gave his auspicious opponent few chances to get ahead and, when he did go 15-40 down at 5-5, he produced two brilliant groundstrokes to force Federer to serve to stay in the set.
The second seed produced a rapid-fire hold to force a tiebreak, and Struff did himself no favours by opening up with a double-fault.
He managed to get the mini-break back when Federer made a mistake at 1-1, but Struff himself then netted a volley to go 3-1 behind and could find no way back from there.
At 6-3 down, Struff saved the first of three match points before a pinpoint first serve earned Federer the win after 115 minutes.
Djokovic was on court with Monfils for two hours and 45 minutes during the hottest part of Thursday, per BBC Sport:
Monfils was the worse affected of the two as the temperatures soared, and he seemed to lose all his energy midway through the second set having taken the first.
With the match all square, Djokovic then rattled through the third set with three breaks of the Monfils serve and eventually sealed his 15th win against the Frenchman in their 15th meeting.
Top seed Halep was impressive in seeing off Canada's Eugenie Bouchard 6-2, 6-2 in 65 minutes and quashed any doubts about her fitness following her ankle problem in the third round.
Meanwhile, Wimbledon champion Muguruza looked to be feeling the heat as she was beaten 6-7 (1), 6-4 by Su-Wei Hsieh.
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