Fourth seeds Max Mirnyi (Belarus) and Horia Tecau (Romania) required two hours and 10 minutes to beat Treat Conrad Huey and Dominic Inglot 6-7(4), 7-6(8), 6-3. Mirnyi reached the 2007 final with Jonas Bjorkman.Victor Hanescu/Martin Klizan (Romania/Slovakya) also qualified for the second round after their victory against the Germans Andre Begemann/Martin Emmrich 6-3, 6-4, after one hour and ten minutes. In the women’s tournament, Romanian pair Irina Camelia Begu / Monica Niculescu defeated Eva Byrnerova / Romina Oprandi 6-2; 6-4 in one hour and 34 minutes and qualified for the second round. The double Sorana Cirstea / Tamira Paszek was eliminated from the competition.
Federer, del Potro fire into third round
Four-time former champion Roger Federer is one match win away from 250 victories at the four major championships (249-37 overall), atpworldtour.com reports.Federer completed a 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 victory over fellow 31-year-old Nikolay Davydenko at the Australian Open on Thursday and will next challenge last week’s Apia International Sydney titlist Bernard Tomic.Sixth seed Juan Martin del Potro closed out a straight sets victory over Benjamin Becker with four straight aces to complete a 6-2, 6-4, 6-2 win in one hour and 44 minutes. It was his ninth straight win over a German player. Del Potro, who struck 22 aces and 50 winners, has lost to Federer in the quarter-finals in 2009 and 2012.Being the youngest player to earn her way into the main draw means that 16-year-old Donna Vekic didn’t make it there on luck, but former No.1 Caroline Wozniacki showed the Croat she still has a long way to go before she can seriously contend for major titles when she handily took care of her in a 6-1 6-4 second-round victory.Any fears that Serena Williams may be hampered by an ankle injury sustained during her first-round match were quickly dispelled on Thursday. The five-time Australian Open champion moved freely and confidently in her 6-2 6-0 victory over 19-year-old Spaniard Garbine Muguruza. Next up for Williams will be either Ayumi Morita or Annika Beck – neither of whom the third seed has played.
