Tennis: World number one Roger Federer dismissed unseeded German Florian Mayer 6-1 6-4 6-0 in the second round of the Australian Open this morning and warned he was still fine-tuning his game despite an imperious display.
Widely tipped to win his second title in Melbourne this year, the Swiss top seed underlined his dominance by slamming an ace down the centre of the court to crush Mayer in just 72 minutes on Rod Laver Arena.
Federer is yet to drop a set in the tournament and produced another performance of power and precision, his backhand especially a constant threat to the outclassed Mayer.
But the Wimbledon and US Open champion said he still needed to work on some areas of his game if he is to improve on his semi-final appearance in Melbourne last year.
"I think I can definitely improve little things. I can maybe still improve my returning game, my serving, my volleying," Federer told reporters. "There's still potential left."
Federer will play 30th seed Max Mirnyi of Belarus or Italy's Davide Sanguinetti in the third round.
Third seed Lleyton Hewitt of Australia, who was beaten by Marit Safin in last year's final, is in the bottom half of Federer's side of the draw along with sixth seed Guillermo Coria of Argentina who recorded a comfortable win today.
Meanwhile, Kim Clijsters had to battle a painful hip injury to stay in the tournament.The women's number two seed, was left hoping for improvement to her injured hip as she limped to a 6-4 6-2 win over Chinese qualifier Yuan Meng.
The Belgian appeared on the verge of quitting at the end of the first set when she called for a break as the pain got too much for her but played on in discomfort.
"I'm happy with the win but my body doesn't feel too good at the moment," she said. "(But) as long as it doesn't get worse, I'll fight until I'm done."
Third seed Amelie Mauresmo had a much easier time on another hot day at Melbourne Park as she chalked up a 7-6 6-2 win over her fellow Frenchwoman Emilie Loit.