Novak Djokovic socks Ryan Harrison

Updated: January 16, 2013, 11:41 AM ET
Associated Press

MELBOURNE, Australia -- Novak Djokovic was all but perfect in his second-round match Wednesday against Ryan Harrison, beating the 20-year-old American 6-1, 6-2, 6-3 to stay on track for his third consecutive Australian Open title and the fourth of his career.

Djokovic, a loser in the U.S. Open final last year to Andy Murray, looks like he wants to atone for that defeat.

He was relentless in beating the overmatched Harrison, winning the first set in just 20 minutes and the match in 1½ hours while making just 16 unforced errors.

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"I tried to focus from the start," Djokovic said. "Obviously, I knew he had nothing to lose, he's going to come out and hit big serves. Pity for him, I don't think he played his best."

No. 4-ranked David Ferrer needed five match points before clinching a 6-0, 7-5, 4-6, 6-3 win over American Tim Smyczek, who got into the main draw as a lucky loser from qualifying.

Fifth-seeded Tomas Berdych beat Guillaume Rufin of France 6-2, 6-2, 6-4 and eighth-seeded Janko Tipsarevic beat Lukas Lacko 6-3, 6-4, 3-6, 4-6, 7-5 in a match that lasted nearly four hours.

No. 10 Nicolas Almagro and No. 16-ranked Kei Nishikori also moved on while No. 24 Jerzy Janowicz of Poland rallied from two sets down to overpower India's Somdev Devvarman 6-7 (10), 3-6, 6-1, 6-0, 7-5.

Also advancing were No. 22 Fernando Verdasco, No. 28 Marcos Baghdatis, the 2006 Australian Open runner-up, No. 31 Radek Stepanek and No. 32 Julien Benneteau. Stepanek beat Feliciano Lopez 6-2, 6-2, 6-4 and will next play Djokovic.

Complete results

Need the scores from any match played in the Australian Open? Results

No. 20 Sam Querrey advanced when fellow American Brian Baker retired in the second set with a right knee injury and next plays No. 15 Stanislas Wawrinka.

Baker, who returned to the tour last year after missing almost six seasons with a variety of injuries, won a first-set tiebreaker and was level at 1-1 on serve in the second. He was later pushed from Court 6 in a wheelchair.

Tournament organizers said that Baker had a torn meniscus and is expected to be out about four months.

"Yeah, he's the last person that deserves anything like that with his five or six surgeries already," Querrey said.


Copyright 2013 by The Associated Press

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