Fed, Tsonga on song

World No.1 Roger Federer has cruised into the third round of the Australian Open, with ninth seed Fernando Verdasco and 10th seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga also posting impressive victories on Thursday night.

No.6 seed Nikolay Davydenko continued his fine form earlier in the day with another straight-sets success, but it wasn't as easy for 2008 Australian Open champion Novak Djokovic, who endured a second-round scare before progressing in four sets.

Federer needed just 99 minutes to defeat Romanian Victor Hanescu 6-2 6-3 6-2 in a ruthless display on Rod Laver Arena.

The Swiss maestro broke his opponent twice on his way to claiming a comfortable first set in just 27 minutes.

Hanescu, who is ranked No.47 in the world, put up a better fight in the second, but dropped his serve in the eighth game as the top seed strung together seven straight games to claim the second set and a 4-0 lead in the third.

Hanescu fought hard to avoid the bagel, but he was merely delaying the inevitable as Federer sealed the match with his eighth ace.

He will now play 31st seed Albert Montanes in the fourth round, after the Spaniard came back from two sets down to defeat Frenchman Stephane Robert 4-6 6-7 (3-7) 6-2 6-3 6-2.

Verdasco was in a similar mood on Margaret Court Arena, crushing Ukrainian Ivan Sergeyev 6-1 6-2 6-2.

The 2009 semi-finalist will now play Austria's Stefan Koubek after he defeated Croatian Ivan Dodig in straight sets.

Tsonga was also impressive in his 6-4 6-3 6-3 victory over big-serving American Taylor Dent, hitting 42 winners and committing just 10 unforced errors.

The 2008 runner-up will now play 18th seed Tommy Haas in the fourth round after the German needed three hours and 20 minutes to beat Serbian Janko Tipsarevic 4-6 6-4 6-3 1-6 6-3.

Djokovic, seeded No.3, struggled against Swiss world No.58, Marco Chiudenelli needing four sets to get through 3-6 6-1 6-1 6-3 in a tick under three hours in the opening match on Rod Laver Arena.

A sloppy first set saw Djokovic drop his serve twice and hand the Swiss the advantage in the match, but Chiudenelli failed to capitalise on several break-point opportunities in both the second and third sets to hand the momentum back to the Serbian.

However, Djokovic was hardly convincing in his quest to secure quick passage into the third round, eventually breaking his opponent in the eighth game and sealing a clash with Uzbekistan's Denis Istomin, who ousted Michael Berrer 7-5 6-3 6-4.

"I was frustrated, especially at start of the match, because he was really giving it to me," Djokovic said. "He was very aggressive and stepping in and using every opportunity that has been given to him."

"I just became too defensive and didn't really make too much. Just waiting for his mistakes. That was a little issue there, but I managed to make that transition from being defensive to being offensive and changing pace and holding the game in control in the second and third set."

"In the fourth, I struggled a little bit, but I managed to make that important break."

Davydenko continued his impressive march through the early rounds, accounting for Ukrainian Ilya Marchenko 6-3 6-3 6-0. The Russian is rated as a serious threat to the top four seeds on the back of his win in the ATP Tour finals in London and it is clear