MELBOURNE, Jan 21: Little-known Taiwanese player Yen-hsun Lu walked off the court at Melbourne Park on Wednesday after one of his biggest career wins when he shocked 10th-seeded David Nalbandian in the second round of the Australian Open.

Lu, whose previous biggest win was an first-round upset of Britain’s Andy Murray at last year’s Beijing Olympics, had his biggest individual win a second-round Lu beat the Argentinian — a 2002 Wimbledon finalist - 6-4, 5-7, 4-6, 6-4, 6-2 in a match just short of four hours, marking the first time in 12 Grand Slams that the 25-year-old Lu has advanced past the second round.

Lu broke Nalbandian once in the first set to take an unlikely lead but looked to have blown his chance when the 10th seed took the next two sets to go ahead 2-1.

However Lu, ranked 61 in the world, came back to grab the fourth set then broke Nalbandian at the start of the fifth.

The Argentinean, a renowned five-set specialist, tried to come back at Lu but found himself 2-5 down and desperate to stay in the match.

He saved one match point at 30-40 and then had six attempts to break back and put Lu under pressure, only to be undone by some high class first serves from the Asian number two.

In other games, the Safin siblings scored stylish wins with women’s third seed Dinara and men’s former world number one Marat slipping into round three.

Safina, chasing her first grand slam title, beat fellow Russian Ekaterina Makarova 6-7 6-3 6-0 while former Australian and U.S. Open champion Safin crushed Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 7-5 6-2 6-2.

Her brother thundered through to a third round match-up with second seed Roger Federer, who set up the mouth-watering showdown with a 6-2 6-3 6-1 victory over Russia’s Evgeny Korolev.

Twice runner-up here and champion in 2005, Safin is eagerly anticipating his clash with the 13-times grand slam champion.

“I’m looking forward. I have nothing to worry about. I’m going to play my match,” he said.

The Russian siblings were joined in the winners’ circle by the Serb trio of Jelena Jankovic, Ana Ivanovic and defending men’s champion Novak Djokovic.

Women’s top seed Jankovic beat Kirsten Flipkens 6-4 7-5 and fifth-seeded Ivanovic beat Alberta Brianti 6-3 6-2.

Djokovic eased into the third round with a 7-5 6-1 6-3 win over France’s Jeremy Chardy. The 21-year-old world number three struggled initially against Chardy in an even first set, breaking just once in the 12th game, before he romped away with the second and third.

The top-seeded Jankovic battled past Belgian Kirsten Flipkens 6-4, 7-5 as she upped the ante in her quest for a maiden Grand Slam.

Djokovic dismissed Jeremy Chardy of France 7-5, 6-1, 6-3 in impressive style and appears to be hitting form after a slow start to the season and occasional lapses in his opening match here against Italian qualifier Andrea Stoppini.

Results from day three (x denotes seeding):

Men’s singles (2nd round)

David Ferrer (ESP x11) bt Dominik Hrbaty (SVK) 6-2, 6-2, 6-1; Marat Safin (RUS x26) bt Guillermo Garcia-Lopez (ESP) 7-5, 6-2, 6-2; Marin Cilic (CRO x19) bt Janko Tipsarevic (SRB) 6-3, 6-3, 4-6, 6-3; Novak Djokovic (SRB x3) bt Jeremy Chardy (FRA) 7-5, 6-1, 6-3; Tommy Robredo (ESP x21) bt Viktor Troicki (SRB) 6-1, 6-3, 6-0; Roger Federer (SUI x2) bt Evgeny Korolev (RUS) 6-2, 6-3, 6-1; Tomas Berdych (CZE x20) bt Brian Dabul (ARG) 6-1, 6-1, 6-3; Amer Delic (USA) bt Paul-Henri Mathieu (FRA x28) 1-6, 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7/3), 9-7; Stanislas Wawrinka (SUI x15) bt Brydan Klein (AUS) 6-3, 6-4, 6-4; Mardy Fish (USA x23) bt Simone Bolelli (ITA) 6-4, 6-1, 7-5

Women’s singles (2nd round)

Nadia Petrova (RUS x10) bt Sania Mirza (IND) 6-3, 6-2; Galina Voskoboeva (KAZ) bt Karin Knapp (ITA) 6-4, 6-1; Kaia Kanepi (EST x25) bt Patricia Mayr (AUT) 6-3, 6-1; Ana Ivanovic (SRB x5) bt Alberta Brianti (ITA) 6-3, 6-2; Ai Sugiyama (JPN x26) bt Nathalie Dechy (FRA) 1-6, 6-1, 6-3; Dinara Safina (RUS x3) bt Ekaterina Makarova (RUS) 6-7 (3/7), 6-3, 6-0; Daniela Hantuchova (SVK x19) bt Mathilde Johansson (FRA) 6-3, 4-6, 6-3; Alisa Kleybanova (RUS x29) bt Stephanie Cohen-Aloro (FRA) 6-1, 3-6, 6-2; Vera Zvonareva (RUS x7) bt Edina Gallovits (ROM) 6-0, 6-0; Jelena Jankovic (SRB x1) bt Kirsten Flipkens (BEL) 6-4, 7-5; Alize Cornet (FRA x15) bt Andrea Petkovic (GER) 6-1, 6-0.—Agencies