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Tuesday's Men's Quarter-finals at the Australian Open in Melbourne failed to live up to their billing with the favourites Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic recording thumping wins over potentially tricky opposition. The no. 2 and 3 players in the world have thus set up a semi-final date with each other for Thursday night in what will be the 20th career meeting between the two superstars. Federer leads their head-to-head record 13-6 including four wins in 2010, but Novak Djokovic will draw strength from two very important historical wins for him - the US Open semi-final last year, which was their last meeting in a best of five-set match, and of course his 2008 triumph at this very stage here in Melbourne, en route to picking up his maiden Grand Slam title.

Federer was in sublime form today, literally toying with his compatriot, former hitting partner, co-Olympic champion and very good friend Stanislas Wawrinka. The legend roared out of the blocks as has been his wont all week, and raced through the opening set 6-1 in under half an hour. Late comers returning to their seats would have missed Federer break Wawrinka in his opening service game and race to a 3-0 lead in 7 minutes flat.

Wawrinka was competitive briefly in the second set and earned his only break point of the match in the 6th game, pulling his favoured backhand wide in an attempt to go for too much. Federer held serve for 3-3, and just to make sure everyone knew who's the boss, rattled off the last three games of the set to take it 6-3.

The defending champion picked up an early break in the third set and decided to allow Wawrinka to maintain some dignity, running in third gear right through the set, assured that he had done enough to coast to an easy win. Federer wrapped up the no-contest 6-1, 6-3, 6-3 in an hour and 47 minutes.

While it would be but natural to sing the praises of the 16-time Grand Slam champion, it is worth mentioning that Wawrinka was a worthy quarter-finalist, having lifted his game tremendously over the last 8 months under the tutelage of Federer's childhood coach Peter Lundgren. The Swiss no.2 had made the quarter-finals at the US Open last year and was unbeaten in 2011 coming into this match, having won the Chennai Open earlier this month. Wawrinka had powered 54 aces in his 4 matches before today, an average of almost 14 per match, but managed just 1 today, as his serve let him down rather badly. The knowledge of each other's games may have played its role in that as well, but that being said, Wawrinka would undoubtedly believe he did not perform to his potential, and one hopes there is much more to come from the 25-year old Swiss in the future.

Federer meanwhile marched on, awaiting the winner of the Djokovic - Berydch match, a contest which promised plenty, considering that they are ranked no.3 and 6 in the world respectively. Berdych had beaten Djokovic just once previously, and the hope of a close contest vanished rather quickly as the Serbian Davis Cup winner stormed away with the first set 6-1.

It was a serving exhibition from the 23-year old Djokovic, as he dropped just 4 points on serve all set, while unleashing havoc on Berdych's usually reliable delivery. The first serve percentage told the story with Djokovic landing 76% of his first bombs and winning 88% of the points on them, while Berydch was barely over 50% in the set and won just 4 points on his own second serve. It was very serious business from 'The Djoker' as he smashed 12 winners in an opening set that lasted just 36 minutes.

The great Ken Rosewall always spoke about the criticality of winning the opening game of set no.2, and Berydch fought off two break points to hold for 1-0. Had he dropped serve then, the match might well have been over a lot sooner. Indeed, it was Djokovic who lost his serve in the fourth game and one hoped that a contest was finally on the cards with Berydch showing that he was there to do battle.

Djokovic broke back though a couple of games later, and seemed to recover his poise after putting some eyedrops into his right eye, his contact lens obviously causing him some physical discomfort. Vision restored, the set made its way into a tiebreak, in which Novak raced ahead 5-2, only for Berdych to drag things back to 5-5.

Just as it seemed a momentum shift had taken place, Berdych suffered some terrible luck as a net cord took what looked to be heading for a winner out. Instead of it being set point in the Czech's favour, it was Djokovic's to close out, and he did so with aplomb, 7-5.

Up two sets to love, there was no stopping the Serbian and he reverted to his easy first set style, needing just another 38 minutes to wrap up the match. The third set mirrored the first, with Djokovic impregnable on his serve and Berdych horrible on his own delivery. A double break quickly closed out the match, 6-1, 7-6 (5), 6-1, the second set having lasted longer than the other two combined.

Wednesday should be another routine day at the office for the super heavyweights of the ATP Tour. Last year's losing finalist Andy Murray comes up against Australian Open debutant Alexandr Dolgopolov in what could potentially be a huge mismatch, while Rafael Nadal will hope to continue his quest for the non-calendar slam by taking out Davis Cup teammate and good friend David Ferrer.

Men's Singles - Quarterfinal
[2] Roger Federer (SUI) def. [19] Stanislas Wawrinka (SUI) 6-1 6-3 6-3
[3] Novak Djokovic(SRB) def. [6] Tomas Berdych(CZE) 6-1 7-6 6-1

Men's Singles - Quarterfinal Line-up
Alexandr Dolgopolov(UKR) vs. [5] Andy Murray(GBR)
[7] David Ferrer(ESP) vs. [1] Rafael Nadal(ESP)

Photograph Copyright: Australian Open