Eighth seed Stanislas Wawrinka has battled into the third round of the Australian Open with a 6-3 6-3 6-7[4] 6-4 win over Alejandro Falla in Melbourne.

The Swiss pro showed his intent early in the first set by scoring nine winners and grabbing a vital break point to put Falla on the back foot at the MCA.

After whipping through the first set, Wawrinka continued his dominance with three aces and converted two break points, while Falla didn't help himself with a double fault and 10 unforced errors.

Despite being inferior in the first two sets, Falla unleashed some strong shots across the court and was able to break back to level the scoreline at 4-4.

Both players continued to hold their serve, which resulted in a deciding tie-break, which Falla managed to edge 7-4 to force the match into a fourth set.

Games continued to go by the way of serve, but two break points edged it for Wawrinka, who eventually wrapped up the contest on his serve for a place in the next round.