Andy Roddick and David Ferrer cruised into the fourth round as eighth seed Gaston Gaudio crashed out at the Australian Open.
Roddick is still to play a match longer than two hours after thrashing French qualifier Julien Benneteau 6-1 6-2 6-2 in just 82 minutes at Melbourne Park.
Number 11 seed Ferrer downed 18th seed Mario Ancic in straight sets, the big-hitting Croatian hitting more winners but making almost twice as many unforced errors as his Spanish opponent.
After losing the opening set, Ancic was up a break in the second but Ferrer bounced back to take the set before going on to win 6-3 6-3 6-3.
Meanwhile, Gaudio recovered from two sets to love down only to lose in five to Frenchman Fabrice Santoro.
In an epic match played in searing 35-degree heat, Santoro eventually prevailed after almost four hours 6-3 6-2 5-7 1-6 6-4.
Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis equalled his best performance in the tournament as he moved into the fourth round with a crushing straight-sets win over German Denis Gremelmayr.
Baghdatis reeled off 27 winners as he won 6-2 6-1 6-2 in only 80 minutes to set up a fourth-round clash with second seed Roddick.
Men's Singles round 3 results Friday, January 20:
7 Ivan Ljubicic (Cro) bt 31-F Lopez (Esp) 7-5 7-6 (7-5) 6-0
10 Thomas Johansson (Swe) bt Gilles Simon (Fra) 6-3 6-2 6-1
4 David Nalbandian (Arg) bt 26 J Nieminen (Fin) 2-6 6-3 6-2 7-5
Fabrice Santoro (Fra) bt 8-G Gaudio (Arg) 6-3 6-2 5-7 1-6 6-4
2 Andy Roddick (USA) bt J Benneteau (France) 6-1 6-2 6-2
11 David Ferrer (Esp) beat 18-Mario Ancic (Cro) 6-3 6-3 6-3
Marcos Baghdatis (Cyp) bt Denis Gremelmayr (Ger) 6-2 6-1 6-2
