MELBOURNE, Australia (AP)—Andy Murray moved another step closer to consecutive Australian Open finals, routing Guillermo Garcia Lopez 6-1, 6-1, 6-2 on Saturday in the third round of the year’s first major.
Fifth-seeded Murray, who lost the 2010 final to Roger Federer, has lost just 17 games through three rounds.
Another former finalist was ousted, with 2008 runner-up Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France losing 3-6, 6-3, 3-6, 6-1, 6-1 to Alexandr Dolgopolov, who will meet No. 4 Robin Soderling in the fourth round.
Milos Raonic, a 20-year-old Canadian qualifier with the fastest serve in the first two rounds of the tournament (230kph/143mph), fired 32 aces as he knocked No. 10 Mikhail Youzhny out of the tournament with a 6-4, 7-5, 4-6, 6-4 win.
Soderling, who beat Jan Hernych 6-3, 6-1, 6-4, hasn’t dropped a set and is on an eight-match winning streak with his three at Melbourne Park after winning the tuneup tournament at Brisbane.
He’s lost the last two French Open finals—once to No. 1 Rafael Nadal and once to No. 2 Roger Federer—but has some big victories over the dominant pair and is confident both can be beaten at Melbourne Park.
“There’s always going to be a lot of attention on Roger and Rafa, of course,” he said. “But I think there’s many guys who can actually compete against them and have a chance to win the tournaments like this when they’re playing well.
“I already played two Grand Slam finals and I beat them both in Grand Slams. But, again, of course they will always be the favorites, and we are the guys who need to play really well if we’re going to have a chance to beat them.”
Soderling’s match was delayed for about 10 minutes in the third set when a bubble seemed to appear on the court surface at Hisense Arena. A similar bubble delayed the start of a match on the same court the previous night.
Tournament organizers said moisture from recent rains had gathered under the court’s Plexicushion layer in the unseasonally cool conditions and evaporated as temperatures rose, causing a pocket of vapor that lifted part of the surface. Stadium staff repaired the problem quickly both times.
Second-seeded Vera Zvonareva kept alive her bid for a third consecutive Grand Slam final with a 6-3, 7-6 (9) win over Lucie Safarova.
Zvonareva served for the match twice but was extended to the tiebreaker. Safarova led 4-2 and 5-3 in the tiebreaker before Zvonareva finally sealed it on her fourth match point.
She lost the Wimbledon and U.S. Open finals last year. If she goes one better and wins the Australian title, Zvonareva has a chance to move into the No. 1 ranking.
No. 12 Agnieszka Radwanska also advanced in the women’s draw, cruising past Simona Halep 6-1, 6-2.
There was some heated moments in the men’s doubles, with match officials stepping in to calm a verbal exchange at the net.
Spain’s Feliciano Lopez accused India’s Leander Paes of trying to provoke him and his partner Juan Monaco of Argentina during their second-round match. Paes and partner Mahesh Bhupathi won the match 7-6 (2), 6-4.
Television footage showed all four players arguing at the net, and Lopez claimed Paes had tried “to provoke us all the time.”
Top-seeded Rafael Nadal plays 18-year-old Australian wild card Bernard Tomic on Saturday night. The Spaniard is trying to become the first man since Rod Laver in 1969 to hold all four major titles at once. Nadal made a quarterfinal exit in Australia last year, then won the French Open, Wimbledon and the U.S. Open.