To the world’s best tennis player, Takao Suzuki must seem like a mosquito, a pest that incessantly flies in your face despite your obvious ability to swat it dead.

Suzuki, ranked 203rd in the world, didn’t seem to care that he had no chance to beat Roger Federer Wednesday night. Sure, the Swiss star was bigger, stronger, and faster. Yes, he had won 22 straight matches and hadn’t lost to a top 10 player in more than a year. Three Grand Slams in 2004 and talk of four this year? No matter, Suzuki said, just keep going at him.

In the end, Federer won 6-3, 6-4, 6-4, but Suzuki earned an A-plus for effort. The 28-year-old from Japan chipped, sliced, and recklessly charged the net, thrilling the crowd with a brand of creative tennis far superior to the baseline drudgery one often sees today. Federer, no slouch himself when it comes to artistry, hit some magical passing shots, including a rare forehand around the net post for a winner.

Suzuki announced himself in the fifth game of the match when he ended Federer’s streak of 63 consecutive service games won. He gave himself two break points by charging the net after a Federer second serve and knocking off a forehand volley winner crosscourt. Moments later, he rushed the net on a backhand slice and nailed a backhand volley for a winner.

Federer promptly picked himself up, winning the next four games in short order. From there, the outcome was never in doubt, though the 5-foot-9-inch Suzuki continued to entertain. Leading 4-3 in the second set, he earned himself another break point with a stretch volley worthy of Plastic Man. But Federer fended him off and earned a service break of his own by tracking down a short volley off the side of the court. Running full speed, Federer flicked the ball around the net post and just inside the line. Had the net been in the way, the ball would have crashed into its bottom half.

Down 5-4 with Federer serving, Suzuki could easily have given up the chase. Instead, he nearly defied physics by returning a backhand overhead from Federer, on the bounce, while standing five feet from the net. Federer smashed another forehand down the line and Suzuki dove for it in vain.

Federer should cruise through the next two rounds into the quarterfinals, where he could face Andre Agassi, as he did at the 2004 U.S. Open. Agassi arrived in Melbourne with an ailing hip but has showed no signs of injury in two easy matches. Wednesday afternoon, the 34-year-old walked over Rainer Schuettler, 6-3, 6-1, 6-0. At times Agassi hits such sharp angles that it looked like he was hitting balls out of his hand.

In early Thursday action, 22-year-old American qualifier Bobby Reynolds continued his improbable winning streak against no. 17 seed Andrei Pavel of Romania. Reynolds, who played for Vanderbilt University, had only left the U. S. once before his visit to Australia.

Also Thursday, Spaniard Rafael Nadal, one of the game’s finest young marksmen, hung a loss on Mikhail Youzhny that the Russian won’t soon forget. Youzhny had a volley to win the match in the fourth set, but he took a full swing and fired the ball long. Nadal took charge from there, winning 6-1, 4-6, 4-6, 7-5, 6-3.