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South Africa's top tennis player Kevin Anderson marched into the third round of the Australian Open on Wednesday after beating Austria's Dominic Thiem 6-4, 6-3, 6-4.
Anderson, seeded 32 for the tournament, will face unseeded Frenchman Edouard Roger-Vasselin on Friday.
Should the big-serving South African progress to the fourth round, he could meet his nemesis, the seventh-seeded Tomas Berdych.
Berdych was the first man into the third round with his straights sets win over Kenny de Schepper of France.
Three-time defending champion Novak Djokovic beat Argentina's Leonardo Mayer 6-0, 6-4, 6-4 to cruise into the third round with his 23rd straight win at the Australian Open.
The Serbian second seed, unbeaten at Melbourne Park since 2010, had few problems with the intense heat and was on court for just one hour and 47 minutes as the mercury again climbed above 40 degrees celsius.
Third seed David Ferrer needed four gruelling sets to get past the unseeded Frenchman Adrian Mannarino and ninth seeded countryman Richard Gasquet advanced when he beat the Russian veteran Nikolay Davydenko 7 6 6 4 6 4.
Amongst the ladies: Sam Stosur is through to the third round of her home Grand Slam for the first time in three years after a 6-2, 6-0 win over Tsvetana Pironkova of Bulgaria.
On Friday, Stosur will play former world number one Ana Ivanovic who beat Annika Beck 6 1 6 2.
Ice-cool top seed Serena Williams stayed on track for her sixth Australian Open title with her 6-1, 6-2 demolition of Serbia's Vesna Dolonc.
