Men's No.8 seed Mardy Fish has made a sensational exit from the Australian Open, beaten in straight sets by world No.71 Alejandro Falla in their second round match, while Roger Federer progressed without hitting a ball.
The American veteran failed to make it past the second round for the thirds consecutive year in Melbourne, with Falla playing some outstanding tennis on his way to a 7-6 (7-4), 6-3 7-6 (8-6) win in a match which lasted exactly three hours.
Fish could only have himself to blame for the defeat, making 58 unforced errors, including 37 on the forehand with which he really struggled to control. Falla rifled off 30 winners, including 11 in a brilliant third set, to make it through to the third round of a Grand Slam tournament for the third time.
The American must have known he was in trouble when he was broken to love in his first game and while he got it back on serve twice in the first set, including in the 10th game when Falla was serving for it, he made a string of unforced errors in the tie-breaker and lost the set.
In a more disciplined second set for both players, there was just one break-point - to Falla in the fourth game - which he converted and went on to take a 2-0 advantage.
Fish looked in serious trouble when Falla broke in the fifth game of the third, but he responded by securing successive breaks himself and giving himself a shot to serve for the set. His wild forehands continued to cause him trouble and Falla levelled up to take it to a tie-breaker again.
The Colombian took the initiative and set up two match points at 6-4 thanks to a brilliant lob at the end of a 30-shot rally. But he double faulted to give Fish another chance, only for Fish to err again and give Falla a memorable victory.
He now plays Germany's Philipp Kohlschreiber, who was handed an easy passage when Spaniard Pere Riba retired when trailing 6-0 4-0.
Federer's second round match in Hisense Arena, which was to be his first way from Rod Laver Arena in eight years, proved a non-event as his opponent Andreas Beck withdrew with lower back soreness.
While Fish was sent packing, No.7 seed Tomas Berdych eased into the last 32 with a 6-1 6-0 7-6 (7-4) win over veteran Belgian Olivier Rochus.
Berdych was in scintillating form with 47 winners including 21 aces in a match which lasted six minutes short of two hours. He broke Rochus twice in the first set and three times in a second set where the world No.54 won just 11 points.
The third set was much tighter but the Czech never looked concerned, wrapping up a third round match-up with No.30 seed Kevin Anderson.
South African Anderson overcame Ukrainian Sergiy Stakhovsky in four tight sets 3-6 6-1 7-6 (7-3) 6-3 to mark his best effort at the Australian Open.
The other man to make it through so far on day three is Yen-Hsun Lu, who defeated Florent Serra 7-5 6-2 6-2.