Federer and Djokovic cruise through

David Nalbandian became the highest-profile casualty in the men's draw as he crashed out in the second round of the Australian Open today.

The number 10 seed was ousted by Taiwan's Yen-Hsun Lu 6-4 5-7 4-6 6-4 6-2 in an epic battle which lasted five minutes short of four hours.

Nalbandian saved three match points at 5-2 down but could not convert the six break-point chances he had and Lu finally fired a winner down the line to seal a famous win.

It is the first time the world number 61 has made it into the third round of a grand slam event and he was clearly delighted.

"It's a big step for me to be in the third round in a grand slam. I'm really happy," Lu said.

"I just had nothing to lose today, because he's a top 10 player and I'm 61 in the world and I have no pressure on me.

"I just went out on court and played my game and it wasn't about who is better (in the rankings).

"Today, for sure I had a better performance than him. I think I served more consistently than him and after the fourth set and in the final set I was playing more aggressively than him."

Nalbandian, who beat Jarkko Nieminen at the warm-up event in Sydney last week, had no excuses for his performance.

"He just played great today, better than me, and that was enough to give him the victory," the Argentinian said.

"I didn't play badly. All the sets I started a break down and then I always had to fight to come back and it wasn't easy. He played very well."

Lu's heroics have earned him a third-round date with 21st seed Tommy Robredo, who beat Viktor Troicki 6-1 6-3 6-0.

Robin Soderling, of Sweden, was another seed to fall by the wayside, losing to crowd favourite and 2006 finalist Marcos Baghdatis.

Soderling, the 16th seed, took the first set 6-3 before Baghdatis rallied to take the next three 7-5 6-3 6-3.

The Cypriot faces 23rd seed Mardy Fish in the next round.

Philipp Kohlschreiber, the 32nd seed, also made an early exit, losing to the oldest player in the draw, Fabrice Santoro.

The 36-year-old's 5-7 7-5 3-6 7-5 6-3 victory gave him the honour of being the oldest man to win two matches at the Australian Open since 1978.

It also earned him a third-round tie with Andy Roddick, who survived an early scare against Xavier Malisse before rallying to win 4-6 6-2 7-6 (7-1) 6-2.

Earlier in the day defending champion Novak Djokovic and second seed Roger Federer enjoyed trouble-free passages to the third round.

Federer had an easy 6-2 6-3 6-1 win over qualifier Evgeny Korolev, while defending champion Djokovic was a comfortable 7-5 6-1 6-3 winner against Jeremy Chardy.

He will now play Amer Delic after the American came back from two sets down to shock 28th seed Paul-Henri Mathieu 1-6 3-6 6-3 7-6 (7-3) 9-7 in an epic battle.

Federer needed just one hour 27 minutes to overcome Russian qualifier Korolev, who had defeated another former world number one, Carlos Moya, in the first round.

But there was never any chance of him adding Federer's scalp to his collection with the world number two looking comfortable throughout.

The Swiss star's victory saw him move above Boris Becker to seventh on the list of the most open era grand slam wins.

But his third-round match-up against Marat Safin, who beat him on the way to the 2005 Australian Open title, was the real talking point.

"It's going to be a nice match for sure. We have a history. We have played a few times. So we go way back. He, of course, is a former number one, the same for me, and a former grand slam champion, it's an intriguing match-up," Federer said.

Safin was also looking forward to renewing the rivalry.

"We know each other pretty well. He knows how to play against me and I know how to play against him. Unfortunately I didn't win a lot of matches against him but I'm looking forward to it," the Russian 26th seed said after defeating Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 7-5 6-2 6-2.

Other seeds to progress were Juan Martin del Potro, Marin Cilic, David Ferrer, Stanislas Wawrinka and Tomas Berdych.