Federer finds form in Melbourne

World number one Roger Federer sent out an ominous warning to his rivals with the most comfortable of second-round victories over Victor Hanescu at the Australian Open.

The Swiss maestro needed only an hour and 39 minutes to claim a convincing 6-2 6-3 6-2 win over the 47th-ranked Romanian.

Not even a late appearance by Prince William, who is on a three-day tour of Australia, at the Rod Laver Arena could overshadow the record grand slam winner's victory charge as he marched into the third round.

Federer had been below his best in his opening match against Igor Andreev, when he dropped a set in the first round at a major for the first time in six years, but he immediately looked in the mood as he crashed 20 winners in an opening set that lasted 34 minutes.

The second set was captured in one minute fewer, despite Hanescu managing to grab three games, with the Swiss continuing to pepper the lines with winners.

Federer had already raced into a 3-0 lead in the third set when Prince William arrived, to the applause of the near-capacity 14,000 crowd, just an hour and 15 minutes after the start of the game.

The Prince's schedule has been hectic during his brief tour Down Under and Federer hardly took up much of his time as he quickly wrapped up the match when Hanescu blocked a return long.

'I knew the danger of Victor. He is a good player although maybe he is more accustomed to clay,' Federer said afterwards.

'I am just thrilled to be through.'

Third seed Novak Djokovic overcame a first-set hiccup against Marco Chiudinelli to progress.

The 22-year-old, who won at Melbourne Park two years ago, cut a frustrated figure as he dropped the opening set and at one point crashed his racquet into the Rod Laver Arena court.

After a few more animated displays of his displeasure the Serbian eventually turned his aggression into winners - he hit 58 - to overwhelm his opponent 3-6 6-1 6-1 6-3.

There were also second-round wins for in-form duo Nikolay Davydenko, the sixth seed, and the 2006 finalist Marcos Baghdatis who while unseeded is looming as a dangerous floater.

Davydenko swept Illyan Marchenko 6-3 6-3 6-0 before Baghdatis came from two sets down to eliminate 17th seed David Ferrer 4-6 3-6 7-6 (7/4) 6-3 6-1.

Spaniard Ferrer was the only men's seed to fall by the end of the day session.

Djokovic's own progress had looked in doubt early in his match with Chiudinelli following a timid opening set when he was twice broken by the Swiss.

The Serbian's anger was evident as he tetchily paced around centre court, but as he started to find his range from the baseline his temper settled and so too the match fell his way.

'Definitely I was frustrated, especially at start of the match, because he was really giving it to me,' said Djokovic, who will play Uzbek qualifier Denis Istomin next.

'So automatically I just became too defensive and didn't really make too much. I was 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.'

Davydenko is arguably the form player on tour after his success at the ATP World Tour Finals last November and in Doha to start the year - where he beat both Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer.

Despite that the 28-year-old Russian played down talk that he is a favourite as he aims to break his grand slam duck at Melbourne Park.

'I never think that I am favourite at any tournaments because I know I can also lose not only to top-10 guys, but I can lose also to number 15 or 100,' he said.

'It depends how you feel. I know I'm a very good player. If I feel good, for sure I can beat everyone. But not every day you can feel good.'

Baghdatis continued his hot streak in Australia to dump Ferrer out in an enthralling match that lasted four hours and nine minutes on Hisense Arena.

The Cypriot is now on a seven-match winning streak after winning in Sydney last week, but said he had needed to dig deep to claim his latest triumph.

'I saw he was a bit tired, so it helped me fight even more,' he said.

'I saw a window open. Then my tennis came back. I started playing pretty good - a bit more aggressive. I served pretty good, so I'm delighted I won.'

Baghdatis will next play local hope Lleyton Hewitt, which will evoke memories of their epic five-set match two years ago when the Australian finally clinched victory at 4.30 in the morning.

Hewitt, the 22nd seed, won through by beating American Daniel Young 7-6 (7/3) 6-4 6-1.

Juan Monaco came from two sets behind as the 30th seed survived 3-6 3-6 7-6 (7/5) 6-1 6-3 against Michael Llodra.

Tommy Haas, the 18th seed, was also taken the full distance by Serbian Janko Tipsarevic before prevailing 4-6 6-4 6-3 1-6 6-3 in three hours and 20 minutes.

Other seeds to progress today were Mikhail Youzhny (20) and Nicolas Almagro (26).