Federer, the world No. 1 and in search of a 16th overall Grand Slam title, made just 18 unforced errors in a 6-2, 6-3, 6-2 triumph over Victor Hanescu. He faced five break-point situations -- three in one first-set game -- and took seven consecutive games to get to a 4-0 advantage in the third set.
Federer's third-round opponent will be 31st-seeded Albert Montanes, who came from two sets down in defeating Stephane Robert 4-6, 6-7 (3-7), 6-2, 6-3, 6-2 in about 3 1/2 hours.
Third-seeded Novak Djokovic dropped the first set before storming to a 3-6, 6-1, 6-1, 6-3 win over Marco Chiudinelli while sixth-seeded Nikolay Davydenko posted a 6-3, 6-3, 6-0 win over Illya Marchenko in results involving top-ranked players.
Also, ninth-seeded Fernando Verdasco sailed by Ivan Sergeyev 6-1, 6-2, 6-2 and No. 10 Jo-Winfried Tsonga got past Taylor Dent 6-4, 6-3, 6-3.
The lone upset of a seeded player Thursday came from the red-hot Marcos Baghdatis, who outlasted No. 17 David Ferrer 4-6, 3-6, 7-6 (7-4), 6-3, 6-1. Baghdatis is 18-1 over his last four tournaments.
Other seeded winners in Melbourne Thursday were 18th-seeded Tommy Haas, 20th-seeded Mikhail Youzhny, No. 22 Lleyton Hewitt, 26th-seeded Nicolas Almagro and No. 30 Juan Monaco.
Unseeded players advancing to the third round were Lukasz Kubot, Alejandro Falla, Stefan Koubek and Denis Istomin.
Copyright 2010 by United Press International.
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