Berdych silences Bosnian support to advance in Melbourne

MELBOURNE (Reuters) - Seventh seed Tomas Berdych silenced a boisterous crowd on Hisense Arena as the Czech comfortably advanced to the fourth round of the Australian Open with a 6-4 6-2 6-2 victory over Bosnia's Damir Dzumhur on Friday.

The 21-year-old Dzumhur has enjoyed vocal support from Melbourne's large expatriate Balkan population in his progress throughout the tournament from qualifying.

Dzumuhur beat Croatia's Ivan Dodig in the second round in a noisy encounter on Wednesday and had been seeking to be the first qualifier to reach the fourth round at the Australian Open since Canada's Milos Raonic in 2011.

Berdych, however, was simply too strong for the youngster and gave him nothing to capitalise on, ruthlessly snuffing out his two break point opportunities to advance to a fourth round against either South Africa's Kevin Anderson or Edouard Roger-Vasselin of France.

(Reporting by Greg Stutchbury in Wellington; Editing by John O'Brien; Editing by xxxxx)