Novak Djokovic and Serena Williams will look to continue their serene progress in the Australian Open when third round action begins in warm Melbourne on Friday.
Where to Watch Live
Day 5 is scheduled for an 11 am AET (5.30 am IST) start with live coverage on Star Sports 4 and Star Sports HD2 in India. The matches can also be live streamed online in India HERE. Catch the action via live streaming in the UK HERE or HERE. Viewers in the US can live stream the action HERE, while Africa viewers can do the same HERE.
Djokovic has so far had no problems in dispatching his opponents, continuing his love affair with the first Grand Slam of the year with a comfortable straight set 6-0, 6-4, 6-4 victory over Leonardo Mayer in the second round.
"The conditions were not easy for both my opponent and myself," Djokovic said after the second round win. "You know, I started the match really, really good. I was set and a break up only after, you know, 40-45 minutes.
"You don't want to spend too much time in the heat. You want to try to win as quickly as possible. He started to play better as the match progressed, in the second part, especially in the third set. But, I felt like I was serving well and I was in the control. When I needed to use my opportunities when they were presented, I did so.
"It was a better performance than the first round."
Next up for the Serbian is a potentially tricky encounter against Denis Istomin, the Uzbekistan player who knocked out the ever-popular Marcos Baghdatis in the first round.
If anything can trump up the likes of Djokovic in the early rounds it will be the intense heat in Melbourne, but the Serbian world number two is confident of coping with the weather, as comfortably as he has done with his opponents.
"Everything is fine," the three-time Australian Open champion added. "I'm physically fit. I've been practicing, preparing for Australian summer that we all know it can be difficult at times with the conditions.
"As I said, we all were aware of the weather that is going to, how the weather is going to look like these couple days. We knew that when we saw forecast couple of days ago, everybody was talking about 40 degrees and plus.
"Knowing that I played a day match today, I prepared myself mentally for that. It's not just physically. Mentally you need to be tough enough to not give up and not think about what conditions can do to you.
"It's not the first time I face myself with this particular weather. Obviously experience helps."
All eyes in the women's section will be on world number one and unstoppable force Serena Williams, who takes on No. 31 seed Daniel Hantuchova in round three.
The American, who beat Vesna Dolonc in the second round, as always has looked extremely good in the Australian Open so far, and will want to put in another quick shift on the courts on Friday.
"I actually think I was happy just to get that win under my belt and have a chance to go to the next round," Williams said after her 6-1, 6-2 breeze. "It always seems like I'm one of the favourites to win. But for me, I look at it as kind of exciting that I have an opportunity to go all the way.
"But with that being said, I have so many matches I have to win in order to do well and in order to lift the trophy. It's such a long way. I'll just have to play one match at a time."
An intriguing clash is also in store on Day 5 of the Australian Open with home hope Samantha Stosur going up against Ana Ivanovic of Serbia. The winner of that match will not have too much time to relax, however, with Williams, if she beats Hantuchova, lying in wait in the fourth round.
"The draws haven't been that great for me," Ivanovic said. "No secret it's going to be a tough match. I had two tough matches last year against Sam. I lost one, won one. She's a tough player, and has very strong game. I have to raise my level in order to beat her."
The two matches that Ivanovic and Stosur played last year, they split and the Australian is expecting another closely-fought battle. "It's going to be a tough match," Stosur said. "Ana has been playing well last year. Last two tournaments last year we played, she won one, I won one. Couple of three-setters in there. It's going to be a tough one.
"I'm looking forward to it. I am happy to be in the third round. I want to keep going. I'm really pleased with the way I played tonight [Wednesday]. Hopefully I can keep building on what I just did to Friday's match and, yeah, really enjoy it out there and have fun."
