Djokovic thrashes Mahut; Nishikori reaches round of 16

MELBOURNE, Australia — Novak Djokovic gave Nicolas Mahut one lousy birthday present.

The top-seeded Djokovic routed the Frenchman 6-0, 6-1, 6-1 on Saturday to advance to the fourth round of the Australian Open. He needed only 1 hour, 14 minutes to dismiss the newly 30-years-old Mahut, who lost the longest match in Grand Slam history over 11 hours, 5 minutes against John Isner at Wimbledon in 2010.

"I wish him happy birthday and hopefully tonight he can enjoy it," Djokovic said.

The defending champion is aiming to become the fifth man in the Open era to win three consecutive major titles. He will play the winner of a later match between Milos Raonic and Lleyton Hewitt in the fourth round.

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, whom Djokovic beat at Melbourne Park for his first Grand Slam title in 2008, also hardly broke sweat in beating Frederico Gil of Portugal 6-2, 6-2, 6-2.

Kei Nishikori, meanwhile, advanced to the round of 16 of the Australian Open for the first time in his career with a four-set victory over Frenchman Julien Benneteau.

Nishikori dropped the first set 6-4 but took the next three 7-6 (7-3), 7-6 (7-4), 6-3 in a third-round match that lasted nearly 3 hours, 30 minutes.

The 22-year-old will next play sixth-seeded Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, whom he defeated in a warmup event in Melbourne last week.

"I'm so happy to win," said Nishikori. "I'm glad I was able to win a close match, especially after my opponent had taken control of the match early."

Nishikori became the first Japanese man to win three matches in the main draw of the Australian Open since Jiro Sato in 1932. He has reached the last 16 in a Grand Slam tournament for the second time and first since the 2008 U.S. Open.

"My opponent was very aggressive, but I tried to find a way to turn the tables," Nishikori said. "I just had to focus on one point at a time."

On the women's side, two Wimbledon winners — Petra Kvitova and Maria Sharapova — advanced, but two top 10 players went out.

Seventh-seeded Vera Zvonareva was beaten 7-6 (9-7), 6-1 by fellow Russian Ekaterina Makerova. No. 9 Marion Bartoli lost 6-3, 6-3 to Zheng Jie of China, a former Australian Open semifinalist.

Sharapova was tested for the first time and still came out with a 6-1, 6-2 win over Germany's Angelique Kerber.

The 2008 champion won her first two matches 6-0, 6-1 and has lost five games in reaching the fourth round, but though the scoreline on Saturday made it look easy enough, Sharapova was given a full workout in a 56-minute second set, with many games going to deuce.

After clinching the victory with a forehand winner, Sharapova showed her relief by clenching her fist and screeching "come on!"

"She certainly stepped up in the second set," Sharapova said. "She reached the semifinals at the U.S. Open last year so she's been on the big stage before and I knew she could produce some really good tennis."

She next plays No. 14 Sabine Lisicki, who beat two-time major winner Svetlana Kuznetsova 2-6, 6-4, 6-2.

Sharapova and Kvitova both have a chance of claiming the No. 1 ranking at the end of the tournament. They could play each other in the semifinals, although Kvitova insisted she hasn't looked that far ahead.

"I don't know who lost and who win," the Wimbledon champion said. "No, really, for me doesn't care."

Kvitova reached the round of 16 when Maria Kirilenko retired with a left thigh injury while trailing 6-0, 1-0 after 38 minutes of their third-round match.

Kvitova next faces Ana Ivanovic, who beat unseeded American Vania King 6-3, 6-4 to reach the fourth round for the first time since she reached the final here in 2008.

That was the same year the 24-year-old Serb won the French Open for her only Grand Slam title, and also claimed the top ranking.

Also Saturday, Serena Williams was so dominant in her 6-1, 6-1 third-round win over Greta Arn that there's probably only one shot she'll remember more than most.

At 5-0 and a point from the first set, Williams lined up in the ideal position for overhead but then completely shanked it, spraying the ball wide. She screamed and put a hand over her face.

Arn saved another set point before holding serve for the first time. Williams responded by winning the next five games before Arn held again. The match ended in 59 minutes, on consecutive double-faults by Arn.

In the women's doubles second round, Ayumi Morita and Rika Fujiwara outlasted Iveta Benesova and Barbora Zahlavova Strycova of the Czech Republic 6-4, 3-6, 7-5, coming back from 5-2 down in the final set.

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