MELBOURNE, Australia -- Seventeen years ago to the day, an 18-year-old from Switzerland made his Australian Open debut. Roger Federer knocked Michael Chang, a former Grand Slam champion, off the court in straight sets.
On Wednesday, at age 35, Federer was the overwhelming favorite to defeat a 20-year-old qualifier from New York, Noah Rubin, who is ranked No. 200 in the world. This time there was no upset -- Federer prevailed 7-5, 6-3, 7-6 (3).
"I wasn't feeling as good as in the beginning," Federer said in his on-court interview. "I definitely got lucky to win that third set. A lot of difficult moments out there, but it's what I need to progress in this tournament."
Continuing his comeback from a knee injury that forced him to miss six months, Federer looked solid in this battle of former Wimbledon champions; Federer is a seven-time champion, and Rubin was the 2014 Wimbledon junior champion.
"I have played out here many, many times. That's my advantage," Federer said. "He's been around a couple of years, plays well, great fighter, great legs. I think he had the upper hand from the baseline.
"I think my serve kept me in the match today."
After defeating a pair of qualifiers, the road becomes appreciably more treacherous for Federer, who will face No. 10 seed Tomas Berdych in Friday's third-round match.
"Berdych, yeah, it's not an easy draw," Federer said. "Now a top-10 player, he's beaten me in New York and at Wimbledon and the Olympics. He's a great player. I like Tomas' game -- that's a tough one."
Federer, now 26-1 against qualifiers in Grand Slams, hasn't lost to a player ranked this low since 2000, in Barcelona when he went down to No. 249 Sergi Bruguera, a two-time French Open champion.
Rubin, playing only his fifth Grand Slam match ever, acquitted himself well and received a warm round of applause from the appreciative crowd after the match. He qualified his way into the main draw, and then beat fellow American Bjorn Fratangelo in the first round. At 5-3 in the third set, Rubin actually held a pair of set points but eventually lost in a tiebreaker.
Third-seeded Milos Raonic maintained his record of reaching the third round all seven years he has contested the Australian Open, saving a set point in the third before beating Gilles Muller 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 (4).
Raonic clinched the win on his second match point when Muller returned a shot wide.
Muller, who won last week's Sydney International for his first career tournament victory, officially had a 2-0 record against the Canadian.
But Raonic retired from a match against him at Wimbledon in 2011 due to a hip injury, and Muller beat him at Valencia, Spain in 2012 in two close sets.
The win advanced Raonic to a third-round match against Gilles Simon, who beat Rogerio Dutra Silva in straight sets.
Federer's Swiss counterpart Stan Wawrinka, seeded fourth, is into the third round for the ninth consecutive year after a 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 win over American Steve Johnson on Wednesday.
Wawrinka, 31, won his first Grand Slam title at Melbourne Park in 2014 and has followed that up with two more majors -- the French Open in 2015 and the US Open last year.
He labored through five sets to win his first-round match against Martin Klizan in 3 hours, 24 minutes. He had a much easier time in the second round, beating Johnson in 1 hour, 52 minutes.
Wawrinka will next play Viktor Troicki, who beat Paolo Lorenzi.
Kei Nishikori advanced to the third round in a far more straightforward manner than his five-set opener earlier this week.
The No. 5 seed, Nishikori defeated Frenchman Jeremy Chardy 6-3, 6-4, 6-3 in just over two hours to reach the third round for the seventh consecutive year.
"[I] was definitely playing much better than first round today,'' Nishikori said Wednesday. "There were many ups and downs, still too many break points for me. Great to finish in three sets.''
Nishikori has reached the quarterfinals three times at Melbourne Park, but has never advanced beyond that stage. He could play top-seeded Andy Murray in the quarterfinals this year.
Sixth-seeded Gael Monfils has advanced to the third round of the Australian Open with a 6-3, 6-4, 1-6, 6-0 win over Alexandr Dolgopolov.
Monfils, playing in his 12th Australian Open, had his best result here last year when he made it to the quarterfinals before losing to Raonic in four sets.
The 30-year-old Monfils reached the U.S. Open semifinals last September, equaling his best run at a Grand Slam tournament, and hit a career-high No.6 ranking in November.
"I still love it, that's why I play the game,'' he said.
He will next play Philipp Kohlschreiber, who beat Donald Young of the United States 7-5, 6-3, 6-0 earlier Thursday.
No. 7 Marin Cilic and No. 14 Nick Kyrgios were beaten in night matches. Cilic lost in four sets to Daniel Evans, and No. 89-ranked Andreas Seppi rallied from two sets down and saved a match point to beat Kyrgios 1-6, 6-7 (1), 6-4, 6-2, 10-8 in a seesawing match that featured a high-risk, between-the-legs shot from the enigmatic Australian.
Seppi had a match point against Kyrgios two years ago but lost. He settled the score in Melbourne, and will advance to the third round against Steve Darcis.
No. 15 Grigor Dimitrov, who beat Raonic in the semifinals before winning the Brisbane International earlier this month, moved into the third round with a 1-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 win over Chung Hye-on. Dimitrov will next play No. 18 Richard Gasquet.
David Ferrer, the former world No. 3 who has only missed the quarterfinals once in the previous six years at Melbourne Park, recovered to beat U.S. qualifier Ernesto Escobedo 2-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-2 and set up a third-round match against fellow Spaniard and No. 13-seeded Roberto Bautista Agut.
No. 12 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga beat Dusan Lajovic 6-2, 6-2, 6-3.
No. 30 Pablo Carreno Busta had a 6-2, 6-4, 6-2 win over Kyle Edmund.
Malek Jaziri defeated Alexander Bublik, 6-2, 6-3, 7-5 and Lukas Lacko defeated Dudi Sela, 2-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-4.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.