Former world No.1 Roger Federer has celebrated his 1000th ATP Tour match in style by bringing the 2012 Australian Open campaign of local teenager Bernard Tomic to a screeching halt with an effortless straight-sets fourth-round victory on Rod Laver Arena on Sunday night.
After a week of much hype which culminated with a maiden appearance in the final 16 at Melbourne Park, Tomic was given a lesson in what it takes to be the world's best as he lost to the 16-time Grand Slam champion 6-4 6-2 6-2 in just 104 minutes.
While Tomic had taken big strides at the first Grand Slam of the year with impressive wins against Fernando Verdasco, Sam Querrey and Alexandr Dolgopolov, he looked decidedly out of his depth against Federer who qualified for his ninth-consecutive quarter-final appearance at Melbourne Park.
Federer will meet No.11 seed Juan Martin Del Potro in the final eight.
The four-time Australian Open winner was at his devastating best, outgunning Tomic in aces (13-0), winners (45-13), first-serve points won (84 percent to 56) and converted break points (6-1).
The match began in tight fashion with serve being held for the first eight games before Federer finally got the crucial first break in the ninth game to take a 5-4 advantage after a marathon rally which included 16 shots.
A botched backhander from Tomic, one of 13 unforced errors by the Aussie teenager for the set, handed Federer the break and the Swiss maestro rounded out the first set the very next game.
Once Federer's first serve went in during the first set, it almost certainly meant the former world No.1 would win the point with Tomic only winning one of 13 on those occasions and the four-time Australian Open champ showed his class with 11 winners to three heading into the second set.
Federer upped the ante in the second set as he broke Tomic in the third, fifth and seventh games.
The Aussie world No.38 managed a break of his own but it was sandwiched in between his much-more credentialed opponent's last two breaks of the set and did little to prevent Federer from racing to a two-set lead.
The six-time Wimbledon winner sent down 17 winners to just five for the set in an emphatic display.
Federer opened up the third set with another break point to immediately maintain his ascendancy and the result was a mere formality after Tomic was broken again in the sixth game to hand the No.3 seed a 5-1 lead after an unsuccessful backhander led to one of the Australian's 32 unforced errors of the match.
The domination continued in the final set with the second-set winners tally (17-5) duplicated in the world No.3's favour and Federer also won 81 percent of his first-serve points while Tomic could only manage 55 percent.