Roger Federer was in no mood to stick around at Melbourne Park into the wee small hours of Monday morning, which spelled very bad news for Belgian opponent David Goffin.

Due to the previous two matches on Rod Laver Arena going the distance and then some, the Australian Open fourth-round clash between the 17-time major winner and the 15th-seeded Goffin didn’t get started until 2248 (AEDT) on Sunday.

Just one hour and 28 minutes later it was all over, with Federer winning 6-2 6-1 6-4 to set up a quarter-final clash with No.6 seed Tomas Berdych.

It continued the run of success enjoyed by the leading men’s seeds in the opening week at Melbourne Park, with No.5 Rafael Nadal from Spain the only big-name casualty to date – having been beaten in the opening round by countryman Fernando Verdasco.

Federer took a 3-0 career win-loss record into the fourth-round clash against Goffin, although the Belgian had managed to take a set off the peerless Swiss in their only previous meeting at grand slam level four years ago at the French Open.

Not this time.

Federer broke Goffin’s serve twice in the first set, three times in the second and claimed another two breaks early in the third.

The Belgian did compose himself well enough to grab one of the breaks back in a more competitive third set – but it was far too little, far too late.

“I’m very, very happy,” said Federer.

“It was tough against (Grigor Dimitrov in a tight four-set win in the third round) and I’ve been switching from day to indoors and night again.

“I’m happy to come out and play as well as I did, especially in the first two sets.”