MELBOURNE: Sixth seed Alexander Zverev crushed Adrian Mannarino with little fuss Friday to coast into the Australian Open fourth round.

The German, a semi-finalist last year who is gunning for a maiden Grand Slam title, turned in an accomplished performance en route to a routine 6-3, 6-3, 6-1 win in just 1hr 43mins on Rod Laver Arena.

Zverev had reason to be confident, toppling the French 32nd seed three times in 2020 alone, including en route to the US Open final.

"I'm very happy. I played him three times last year and they were all long and difficult matches," said the 23-year-old, who smashed 19 aces and 35 winners.

"Today, I decided that I'd hit the ball a bit harder."

Zverev is looking to become the youngest Grand Slam singles champion since Novak Djokovic won the title at Melbourne Park in 2011.

He will next meet either Serbian 23rd seed Dusan Lajovic or Spain's Pedro Martinez.