Intro:

There were third round wins for women's top seed Serena Williams along with Angelique Kerber, Li Na, Casey Dellacqua, men's third seed David Ferrer and seventh seed Tomas Berdych at the Australian Open on Friday (17th January).

Script:

Fans did their best to keep cool by whatever means possible in the relentless Melbourne heat - as the Australian Open continued on Friday.

In the women's draw top seed Serena Williams brushed aside Hantuchova 6-3, 6-3 in just one hour and 20 minutes.

And number nine seed Angelique Kerber of Germany was also a straight sets winner - she overcame American Alison Riske 6-3, 6-4.

However there was a big scare for two-time finalist Li Na, who came back from match point down to beat Lucie Safarova.

The extreme temperatures have sparked much debate this week and Chinese player Zheng Jie, had to be examined by a doctor, on route to losing 6-2, 6-4 against Casey Dellacqua.

In the men's draw third seed David Ferrer won in straight sets against Frenchman Jeremy Chardy. The Spaniard advanced to the fourth round for a 10th consecutive Grand Slam.

And Tomas Berdych also reached the fourth round of the Australian Open with 6-4, 6-2, 6-2 win