Djokovic, Wawrinka into 3rd round
— -- MELBOURNE, Australia -- Men's No. 1 seed Novak Djokovic ran to a 6-0, 6-1, 6-4 win over No. 88-ranked Andrey Kuznetsov on Thursday at the Australian Open, spending just 84 minutes on Rod Laver Arena.
Defending champion Stan Wawrinka, who ended four-time champion Djokovic's 25-match winning streak at Melbourne Park in the quarterfinals last year, advanced to the third round for the seventh consecutive year with a 7-6 (4), 7-6 (4), 6-3 win over No. 194-ranked qualifier Marius Copil.
The fourth-seeded Wawrinka wasn't as consistent as he was in his opening-round win, compiling 39 unforced errors, including 19 on his backhand side. But he saved five of the six break points he faced to close out the match against the No. 194-ranked Copil in straight sets.
Copil was playing in his first Grand Slam main draw.
Wawrinka's route to the quarterfinals got easier with the losses of all the seeded players in his section -- Fabio Fognini, Alexandr Dolgopolov and Pablo Cuevas. He could face fifth-seeded Kei Nishikori in the quarterfinals.
US Open finalist Nishikori stayed on track for another strong Grand Slam performance when he beat Ivan Dodig 4-6, 7-5, 6-2, 7-6 (0) in the second round.
Dodig was serving for the fourth set at 5-4 when Nishikori broke the Croatian's serve, lashing a backhand past Dodig, who stood helpless at the net.
Nishikori wasted a match point in the 12th game before shutting out Dodig in the tiebreaker to clinch the match in 2 hours, 47 minutes, delighting the hundreds of Japanese fans in the crowd.
He will next face Steve Johnson, who beat No. 30 Santiago Giraldo 6-3, 6-4, 6-2.
No. 12 Feliciano Lopez was leading 4-6, 4-6, 7-6 (3), 4-0 when Adrian Mannarino retired from their second-round match, and No. 19 John Isner beat Andreas Haider-Maurer 6-4, 7-6 (4), 4-6, 6-4.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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