• Australian Open, What They Said, Day Four

Federer primed for Tomic test

Serena Williams celebrates victory © AP

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Roger Federer breezed past Nikolay Davydenko to set up a clash with Bernard Tomic and he is looking forward to facing the Australian on his home turf. He said: " I guess he's learned a lot in the last year. It's been, you know, a year of a younger player on tour. I went through the same sort of thing, ups and downs, playing on the big courts, playing on the smaller courts, playing against all the different opponents for the first time. So it's tricky. It's nice he's been able to turn it around after a tough end of the year last year. It seems he's playing well. Obviously a difficult matchup in terms of early in the tournament. But I've got to be ready, so I'm looking forward to the match.

"I think there's always excitement about Aussies playing here. I played him here last year. The crowd was great. I played him in Davis Cup. Crowds were fair there, too. I expect something similar. If it's not, if it's totally for him, that's fine too. I'm always excited when the crowd gets into it. So, yeah, I'm looking forward to the match. I'm sure it's going to be a lot of attention, hopefully a lot of TV viewers as well. Hopefully we're going to live up to the expectations and live up to the match. Hopefully it's not going to be a bad match. I don't want that to happen."

Serena Williams cruised to victory over Garbine Muguruza and was pleased her ankle did not trouble her, although she was upset when she hit herself in the face with her racket. She said: "I think it happens to everyone, but I have never busted it wide open like that. I was like, Oh, no. I can't have a tooth fall out. That would be horrible." Commenting on her ankle, Williams said: "I didn't feel anything today. Obviously when you go out to play you're heavy on adrenaline and you're really pumped up. Usually I feel injuries after the match, but so far, so good. I felt pretty, much better than I ever dreamed of expecting to feel."

Victoria Azarenka crushed Eleni Daniilidou in 55 minutes and she was delighted to spend so little time in the soaring Melbourne heat. She said: "I felt really good. I knew it was going to be tough with the heat, so I came out focused which I think is what was missing in the first match. From now on in I am in the tournament. I am happy could get it done quick.

"Serving well is a focus, I a improving and I like the way I built up from the last match. I need to make sure I recover well and get treatments to keep my energy up.

"Being champion is no real difference for me, I am trying to win, but from the outside I suppose the focus is different."

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga came through in straight sets against Go Soeda but feels there is improvement to come. He said: "I didn't play a good match. But anyway I'm happy to go through, but I didn't have the right attitude on this match. So I hope I will be better in the next one. on the next match I will try to be a bit more aggressive, try to play more my game than what I did today."

Kimiko Date-Krumm battled to a 6-2 7-5 win over Shahar Peer and the 42-year-old claimed her body was at its limit. She said: "It was a big challenge for me because my body, after when I was leading 3‑0, suddenly something big and strong on my back or something happen, and I felt so heavy my body and I couldn't move. But I tried to push myself.

Bernard Tomic dug deep into his reserves to beat Daniel Brands in four sets and the Australian was happy with his form. He said: "Very pleased with myself. Daniel played really, really well. I was surprised how he played today. I'm just happy I won in the end because he wasn't playing like his ranking. He was playing better than that.

"I'm confident. I had a few flaws in my game, and I improved that. I improved my serve a lot and my fitness. That's why I think I'm playing good tennis on the court. Hopefully I can keep it up, especially next round."

Carloline Wozniacki was a 6-1 6-4 winner over rising talent Donna Vekic and the Dane was happy with how she executed her gameplan. She said: "I knew that I had to put the pressure on her from the beginning. I knew I have to make her move, I have to put the pressure on her, I didn't have to go for wild shots. I knew that she would feel the pressure sooner or later.

"I thought I played really well in most parts of the match. I had a couple of games there at 4-1 where I maybe lost a little bit of concentration. You know, she came back, did a few good serves. All of a sudden it's 4-3 and you really need to step it up again. But in general I was happy with my game and the way I was playing."

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