Fit David Ferrer wears down Jeremy Chardy to reach fourth round at Australian Open

Third seed David Ferrer smashed a racket after losing his serve in the second set but recovered his composure to reach the fourth round of the Australian Open with a 6-2 7-6 (7-5) 6-2 victory over Jeremy Chardy on Friday.

Playing in temperatures of 42 degrees Celsius (108 Fahrenheit) on Rod Laver Arena, Ferrer's trademark brand of attritional tennis simply wore down the Frenchman, who made 51 unforced errors, in two hours and 12 minutes.

The 31-year-old Spaniard, twice a semi-finalist at Melbourne Park, took his frustrations on his racket in the second set but saved two set points to win it in the tiebreak. He reached the fourth round for the fourth year in a row when he broke Chardy's serve for the fifth time and next meets German Florian Mayer, who earlier upset Pole Jerzy Janowicz 7-5 6-2 6-2 to become the first man to reach the fourth round.

(Reporting by Nick Mulvenney; Editing by John O'Brien)