Federer, Murray advance at Australian Open

Melbourne, Jan 20 (IANS) Tennis stars Roger Federer and Andy Murray surged through to the fourth round of Australian Open here on Friday.

Seven-time Grand Slam winner Federer defeated Czech player Tomas Berdych 6-2, 6-4, 6-4 in 90 minutes to advance. World No.1 Murray, who achieved his victory over the No.31 seed in spite of ankle problems, outplaying America's Sam Querrey 6-4, 6-2, 6-4, reports Efe.

Federer produced a masterclass in front of fellow all-time great Rod Laver, applying pressure and keeping Berdych deep behind the baseline.

After a third break of Berdych's serve at the start of the second set, Federer seized control. Berdych was powerless in light of Federer's backhand.

"I didn't expect this as such, to be honest, especially not this kind of a scoreline. Especially not having to save any break points, just always rolling on the serve. That was a big surprise to me," Federer was quoted sa saying by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) website.

"I think it was a great mental test for me to see if I could stay in the match - point for point. I was able to do that. That's where I'm just really happy that I was able to deliver that... It's wonderful. I'm really happy of course," he added.

On the other hand, Murray who was struggling with injury said that he felt better as the match progressed as far as his moves were concerned.

"The start of the match was hard (as) Sam came out serving big... the end of that first set was important. He had a break point at 3-4. When I saved that and broke the next game the momentum was with me," Murray said after the match.