Dimitrov books Federer showdown at Australian Open

Pony-tailed Aleksandr Dolgopolov couldn’t put up any resistance against World No 3 Roger Federer.

The 34-year-old Federer is looking to become the third man in history to win five Australian Open titles, following Roy Emerson (six) and World No. 1 Novak Djokovic (five).

“I think he did well in Sydney, and that definitely also gave him a bit of a lift if he takes the positives out of the tournament, because wasting match point in a final is not a great thing”, Federer, never one to miss a trick, told reporters after his easy win over Alexandr Dolgopolov.

Overall, Dolgopolov is certainly good enough to take a set off Federer today, particularly if he keeps his unforced error count low, but it is hard to see the Ukrainian progressing past the second round if the Swiss star is on song with his serve and forehand.

Roger Federer will go down in history as one of the greatest players in professional tennis history.

In under an hour, Federer had the second set, 6-1, and broke twice in the third to complete a lively 72 minutes, 6-2.

His 6-3, 4-6, 6-2, 7-5 win over Argentina’s Marco Trungelliti was not as fluent as he would like but the Bulgarian is carrying some confidence. Like a year ago the third round was the end for me.

Seventh seed Kei Nishikori ran down German Philipp Kohlschreiber 6-4, 6-3, 6-3, while number 12 Marin Cilic defeated Dutchman Thiemo de Bakker 6-7 (4-7), 7-5, 6-2, 6-4.

The all-time Grand Slam king came unstuck in the third round previous year, when he was shocked by Andreas Seppi, and he is wary of another upset with Grigor “Baby Fed” Dimitrov up next.

“I will support them all the way whatever they want to do, but I don’t see myself doing that right now”, he said of sitting in a player box later in life cheering on his tennis kids.

After an explosive report claimed some top players were suspected of being serial match-fixers, Chris Eaton, director of integrity at the International Centre of Sport Security, said corruption was commonplace in tennis’s lower tiers. No 22 Ivo Karlovic retired due to a left knee injury while trailing Federico Delbonis 7-6 (4), 6-4, 2-1.

She faces a potential quarterfinal match against Maria Sharapova, which would be a rematch of the 2015 final.

“But there’s always a danger, you know. I’m feeling much better than I did in Brisbane (he was ill but reached the final)”, the veteran playing his 65th consecutive grand slam said. “You know, because I don’t believe the players are allowed to be sponsored by betting companies, but the tournaments are”.

He notched an incredible 25 aces in only three sets and controlled the contest from the opening games with his strong serve.

Edberg enjoyed two years with Federer and made a big impact, reviving the veteran’s attacking instincts and helping him play some of his best tennis in 2014.