Tomas Berdych comes through Jurgen Melzer test

Tomas Berdych has booked his place in the last 32 of the Australian Open with victory over Jurgen Melzer.

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The Czech hitter had to dig deep to take the opener before he raced through the remainder of the match to record a 7-6 6-2 6-2 triumph.

Melzer, who has dropped outside of the world's top 100, served for the opening set at 5-3, but after Berdych broke back, he advanced through a tie-break without conceding a point.

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There was a feeling that the left-hander may have missed his chance against last year's semi-finalist, and that proved to be correct as two breaks of serves were enough for Berdych to move into full control at the end of the second set.

Berdych dropped serve in the opening game of the third, but after earning an immediate break-back, he began to capitalise on several mistakes from his opponent and after moving to 5-2, he broke Melzer for a third time in the set to move through to the third round.

The seventh seed will now meet Victor Troicki in the third round.