No.4 seed Andy Murray and defending champion Novak Djokovic have had little trouble in progressing through to the third round of the Australian Open after both recorded straight-sets victories on Thursday.
After needing over three hours to dispose of American Ryan Harrison in the first round, Murray found the going a lot easier in the second as he accounted for Frenchman Edouard Rogers-Vasselin 6-1 6-4 6-4 in just under two hours at Hisense Arena.
Murray burst out of the blocks with intent as he clinched the first set in just 23 minutes and breaks in the third and seventh games of the second and third sets respectively were enough for Murray to book a date with French veteran Michael Llodra in the third round.
The 2011 Australian Open finalist won 85 percent of points on his first serve compared to Roger-Vasselin's 66 and only made 19 unforced errors while the Frenchman committed 33.
Djokovic continued his waltz through the early rounds of the Australian Open, dropping just six games en route to a dominant win over Colombia's Santiago Giraldo.
Djokovic, who conceded just two games in his first round match, overcame a slightly sloppy start before marching through to the next round 6-3 6-2 6-1 in 102 minutes in another lop-sided contest on Rod Laver Arena.
He dropped his serve in the fifth game of the first set, but then hit his straps, breaking Giraldo, ranked 56 in the world, twice to take the set and then racing to a 4-0 lead with two more breaks early in the second set.
He closed that out, then broke a rattled Giraldo again in the first, fifth and seventh games of the final set to wrap up another straight-forward win and set up a clash with one-time Wimbledon marathon man Nicolas Mahut, who ousted Japan's Tatsuma Ito in four sets 1-6 7-6 (8-6) 6-2 6-2.
French No.6 seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga booked his passage through to the third round, getting past world No.108 Ricardo Mello 7-5 6-4 6-4 in a match which lasted just shy of two hours.
The 26-year-old Frenchman looked to be struggling early on, falling behind to an early break from Mello, but a double fault from the Brazilian in the seventh game and a brave net approach on break point in the 11th allowed Tsonga to take the first set.
He then broke Mello in the first game of the second set, and while Mello had a chance to get it back on serve in both the eighth and 10th game, Tsonga closed it out.
Broken in the sixth game of the third set, Tsonga looked a little wobbly, but he relied on his big serve, which yielded 15 aces for the match, to consolidate and break Mello in consecutive service games to put himself on the path to a third round clash with Portugal's Frederico Gil.
Gil upset Spanish No.26 seed Marcel Granollers 6-3 4-6 6-4 6-3 to make the third round of a Grand Slam for the first time.
No.5 seed David Ferrer survived a scare when he was forced to come from two-sets-to-one down against American Ryan Sweeting before winning 6-7 (4-7) 6-2 3-6 6-2 6-3 in a match which lasted three hours and 28 minutes.
The Spaniard now plays No.27 seed Juan Ignacio Chela, who eased his way through to the final 32 with a 6-4 6-4 6-3