Novak Djokovic continued his march towards his third straight Australian Open title with a straight set 6-4, 6-3, 7-5 win over veteran Radek Stepanek in the third round.
Djokovic has been in sublime form since the start of the tournament, and while the Czech offered some resistance, it was hardly enough to throw the world No. 1 from his stride.
Stepanek did everything in his power to stop Djokovic, who made some outstanding shots on his way to a straight set victory.
Djokovic has a relatively smooth passage ahead of him, due the absence of Rafael Nadal, and with Roger Federer and Andy Murray in the other half of the draw.
The Serbian will next meet either American Sam Querrey or Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland.
Meanwhile, in the night session Thursday, Roger Federer showed his class in a 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 victory over Nikolay Davydenko.
Federer will now face home favorite Bernanrd Tomic, with the Swiss master expecting a tough battle against the talented Australian.
"I guess he's learned a lot in the last year," Federer said. "It's been, you know, a year of a younger player on tour.
"I went through the same sort of thing, you know, ups and downs, playing on the big courts, playing on the smaller courts, playing against all the different opponents for the first time. So it's tricky.
"It's nice he's been able to turn it around after a tough end of the year last year. It seems he's playing well. Obviously a difficult matchup in terms of early in the tournament. But I've got to be ready, so I'm looking forward to the match.
Federer said Tomic had improved drastically from this time last year. "I think he's playing maybe overall consistent, whatever that might be," he said. It's really in the details. It's hard to pinpoint one thing.
"But I think when you're younger, you have a tendency to improve really quickly. Then it's just hard to maintain that, you know. That's why I think it's really exciting being younger, and feeling it as well.
"I don't want to say week by week. At this point now he's been on tour for a few years. In matches, every match you play you learn something. He's already past that point a little bit.
"I would think he does everything a little bit better, otherwise he wouldn't have won a tournament. And I haven't seen that much, quite honestly, so it's hard for me to comment."
