U.S. Open champion Andy Murray had another comfortable outing in the second round of the Australian Open, easing to a straight set win over Joao Sousa, while the flamboyant Jo-Wilfried Tsonga also booked himself a place in the third round.
World number three Murray, who defeated Robin Haase in the first round, defeated his Portuguese opponent 6-2, 6-2, 6-4 in one hour and 41 minutes to remain on course for a semi-final clash with Roger Federer, who is scheduled to play Russian Nikolay Davydenko later on in the night session at the Rod Laver Arena.
Tsonga was not troubled by a potentially dangerous opponent in Go Soeda, with the Frenchman breezing to a 6-3, 7-6 (1), 6-3 victory over the world No. 73 Japanese.
Tsonga had 44 winners in the match, which included 17 aces, but felt he could have played better.
"I didn't play a good match," the world number 8 said.
"But anyway I'm happy to go through, but I didn't have the right attitude on this match. I hope I will be better in the next one.
The temperatures soared in Melbourne Thursday, and Tsonga admitted it was a difficult battle to overcome the elements.
"It was hot today, of course," Tsonga added. "(It) was not easy because the ball was flying a lot because of the heat.
"It's like this. Anyway, you have an opponent, you have everything around, and you have to deal with it. That's it.
"It's never easy, because every player I will meet before that will try to get their chance. I'm just looking for the next match, and then I will see after that what I can do."
Tsonga will face the winner between Australian James Duckworth and Blaz Kavcic of Slovenia.
In other matches, German Florian Mayer, seeded 25, coasted to a 6-2, 6-3, 6-1 win over Ricardas Berankis of Lithuania, while No. 17 seed and fellow German Philip Kohlschreiber had it easy against Amir Weintraub of Israel 6-2, 7-6 (4), 6-4.
Rising star Milos Raonic, seeded 13, overcame the challenge of Lukas Rosol, who had famously upset Rafael Nadal at Wimbledon last year, 7-6 (2), 6-2, 6-3, while Andreas Seppi came through a gruelling five-setter against Denis Istomin 7-6 (4), 7-5, 6-7 (3), 7-6 (3), 6-2.
