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Australian Open 2015: Novac Djokovic and Serena Williams in action in the third round on Saturday

Defending champion Stanislas Wawrinka also plays

ITF World Champions: Novak Djokovic and Serena Williams have taken top honours
Image: Djokovic and Williams play third-round games on Saturday night

Novak Djokovic and Serena Williams return to the Rod Laver Arena as the Australian Open continues on Saturday.

The world No 1s avoided any serious scares in the early rounds although the memories of Roger Federer’s shock exit on Friday morning should keep them sharp as the third round arrives.

Both enjoyed dominant performances in the second round, progressing with the minimum of fuss and dropping just five games each in one-sided contests against Russian opposition.

Djokovic, the men’s top seed, will meet world No 31 Fernando Verdasco as the quality of opponent gradually increases.

The Serb has shown no effects of the illness that troubled him pre-tournament and thrashed Andrey Kuznetsov 6-0 6-1 6-4 last time out having beaten Aljaz Bedene in his first match.

Verdasco, who has beaten James Ward and Go Soeda, should provide a sterner for Djokovic, having beaten the world No 1 in four of their 10 meetings.

Williams, the reigning Australian Open champion and women’s top seed, will meet world No 26 Elina Svitolina in the morning session.

She is yet to find top form this year and has relied on grinding down opponents after lethargic starts. Vera Zvonareva was within two points of taking their second-round opening set but Williams clawed it back before reeling off six straight games in the next set.

 Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland won the Australian Open
Image: Wawrinka's title defence continues

Defence

Men’s champion Stanislas Wawrinka will follow Williams on court to resume the defence of his maiden Grand Slam title against Jarkko Nieminen.

Wawrinka, who beat qualifier Marius Copil 7-6 7-6 6-3 in the second round, will be looking to step up his performance against Nieminen to assert some authority on the competition he won last January.

Fellow contenders Kei Nishikori and Milos Raonic continue their challenge against Steve Johnson and Benjamin Becker respectively, while Feliciano Lopez will meet Jerzy Janowicz.

In the women’s competition, No 4 seed Petra Kvitova and No 6 Agnieszka Radwanska play Madison Keys and Varvara Lepchenko.

In the pick of Saturday night’s other games, David Ferrer meets Gilles Simon and Camila Giorgi plays Venus Williams while the unseeded Victoria Azarenka, who eliminated Caroline Wozniacki last time, plays Barbora Zahlavova Strycova.

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