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Roger Federer was back to his vintage best, beating Xavier Malisse 6-3, 6-3, 6-1 in a third-round match Friday at the Australian Open.
While the defending champion also won in straight sets in his opening-round match against Lukas Lacko, Federer was extended to five tough sets against Gilles Simon in the second round, a near five-hour match that Federer said he was he relieved to survive.
On Friday at Rod Laver Arena, there were no such dramas for the second-seeded Swiss star who chasing his fifth Australian title. It took him 1 hour, 45 minutes to beat Malisse and earn his 57th career match win at the Australian Open, surpassing Stefan Edberg's Open Era record.
"It's very nice, but he still stays my idol," said Federer, a 16-time Grand Slam winner. He will next play Tommy Robredo, who beat Ukraine's Sergiy Stakhovsky 5-7, 6-2, 6-4, 6-2.
Read more: http://sports.espn.go.com/sports/tennis/aus11/news/story?id=6043016
