BRASH young Australian Bernard Tomic gets the chance to back up his big talk in his much anticipated showdown with the great Roger Federer in the third round of the Open today.

The 20-year-old Tomic, who won his first Tour title last week, has talked up his chances of upsetting the greatest Grand Slam winner of them all in what is shaping as an electric evening inside the Rod Laver Arena.

Swiss legend Federer has done it all before with four Australian titles among his record collection of 17 major wins, and he gave Tomic a straight sets lesson when they met in the fourth round in Melbourne a year ago.

But 43rd-ranked Tomic fancies his chances of a rare early round win over Federer, who has reached the quarter-finals at the last 34 consecutive Grand Slams going back to the 2004 French Open. Confidence is not in short supply with Tomic, who goes into Saturday’s duel the winner of his last 10 singles matches and hopeful of his chances against 31-year-old Federer.

“Ten out of 10 now with matches. I feel so confident. This is the perfect time to play him. I’ve got a good attitude to win,” Tomic said after his second round win over German qualifier Daniel Brands.

“I’ve beaten a lot of good players over the last past two weeks, especially Novak Djokovic (at the Hopman Cup). I think I can do it.

“I’m ready. I do have the belief now. It’s possible. I showed that in Perth, that you can beat the best. Now I’m going to try to beat him.”

Phlegmatic Federer has taken it all in his stride and far from being provoked by the presumptive Aussie’s mind games, he says he hopes the match won’t be anti-climatic.

“I think he’s (Tomic) been lured into it, to be honest. So at the end of the day, you’ve got to wait for the match. All the talk around it,” he said. “I don’t read the press, so I don’t know it’s going to affect me.

“I don’t know if he’s going to wake up in the morning, first thing in the morning, and go to the coffee shop and read the paper.”

Results

Third round

Men’s singles: Novak Djokovic (Srb) bt Radek Stepanek (Cze) 6-4, 6-3, 7-5; Kevin Anderson (Rsa) bt Fernando Verdasco (Spa) 4-6, 6-3, 4-6, 7-6 (7-4), 6-2; Janko Tipsarevic (Srb) bt Julien Benneteau (Fra) 3-6, 6-4, 2-6, 6-4, 6-3; Kei Nishikori (Jpn) bt Evgeny Donskoy (Rus) 7-6 (7-3), 6-2, 6-3; Stanislas Wawrinka (Sui) bt Sam Querrey (US) 7-6 (8-6), 7-5, 6-4; Nicolas Almagro (Spa) v Jerzy Janowicz (Pol) 7-6 (7-3), 7-6 (7-4), 6-1; Tomas Berdych (Cze) bt Jurgen Melzer (Aut) 6-3, 6-2, 6-2; David Ferrer (Spa) bt Marcos Baghdatis (Cyp) 6-4, 6-2, 6-3.

Women’s singles: Julia Goerges (Ger) bt Zheng Jie (Chn) 6-3, 1-6, 7-5; Angelique Kerber (Ger) bt Madison Keys (US) 6-2, 7-5; Agnieszka Radwanska (Pol) bt Heather Watson (Bri) 6-3, 6-1; Li Na (Chn) bt Sorana Cirstea (Rom) 6-4, 6-1; Ana Ivanovic (Srb) bt Jelena Jankovic (Srb) 7-5, 6-3; Ekaterina Makarova (Rus) bt Marion Bartoli (Fra) 6-7 (4-7), 6-3, 6-4; Kirsten Flipkens (Bel) bt Valeria Savinykh (Rus) 6-2, 4-6, 6-3; Maria Sharapova (Rus) bt Venus Williams (US) 6-1, 6-3.

— AFP

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