Escape plans of Watson set to be severely tested by Radwanska

Watson saved three match points in a second-set tie break before powering back to beat Ksenia Pervak 4-6 7-6 (9/7) 6-2.

It was the second match in succession the British No 1 had found herself a set and a break down but she pulled through to give herself a chance at gaining revenge on Poland’s Radwanska, who thrashed her at Wimbledon last year.

Asked if she thought she had blown the opportunity to reach the last 32 of a grand slam for just the second time in her career, Watson admitted: “I’m not going to lie, I did a wee bit.

“But I just pushed it to the back of my mind and said ‘she’s going to have to win this’. I just didn’t want to give it away.”

Radwanska powered through to her meeting with Watson after notching her 11th successive win in 2013, proving too strong for Irina-Camelia Begu to ease through 6-3 6-3.

Maria Sharapova breezed through without dropping a game to set up an encounter with Venus Williams.

Sharapova thrashed hapless Japanese Misaki Doi 6-0 6-0 – repeating the scoreline she enjoyed against Olga Puchkova in the first round.

Williams was a 6-3 6-3 winner against Alize Cornet.

Ninth seed and former French Open winner Sam Stosur endured more misery at her home major with a dismal 6-4 1-6 7-5 loss to Zheng Jie, while fifth seed Angelique Kerber was hardly troubled as she breezed past Lucie Hradecka 6-3 6-1.

In the men’s singles, Novak Djokovic continued his smooth progress through the top half of the draw with a crushing 6-1 6-2 6-3 win in just 90 minutes over Ryan Harrison.

David Ferrer was made to work harder than expected but still progressed in four sets to defeat American Tim Smyczek 6-0 7-5 4-6 6-3.

That set up a clash with Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis, himself a four-set winner over Japan’s Tatsuma Ito.

Fifth seed Tomas Berdych and 10th seed Nicolas Almagro had a far easier time of it.

Czech Berdych beat Guillaume Rufin 6-2 6-2 6-4 in Rod Laver Arena, while Almagro saw off Spanish countryman Daniel Gimeno-Traver 6-4 6-1 6-2.

Kevin Anderson will take on Fernando Verdasco after their comfortable wins against Andrey Kuznetsov and Xavier Malisse respectively.

Eighth seed Janko Tipsarevic squandered a two-set lead but hit back to see off Slovakian Lukas Lacko 6-3 6-4 3-6 4-6 7-5.