Swiss no. 8 seed Stanislas Wawrinka confident he can match it with the top guys in the Australian Open

DESPITE the withdrawal of his next opponent, Stanislas Wawrinka hopes he'll get to show he has the game to match the "top guys" in this year's Open.

Switzerland's Stanislas Wawrinka plays a shot against Colombia's Alejandro Falla. Picture; AFP

STANISLAS Wawrinka hopes he will have the chance to show he has the game to match the "top guys" in this year's Australian Open.

But unfortunately he won't get a chance to showcase his talents on Friday after his scheduled opponent, Canadian Vasek Pospisil, withdrew from the tournament.

Pospisil, battled a back injury throughout his second round match with Matthew Ebden on Wednesday night but scrapped through after dropping the first set to the Australian who blew a number of golden opportunities to claim victory.

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The 28th seed was forced to withdraw from a doubles match yesterday and a few hours later pulled the pin on his singles campaign, handing a walkover to Wawrinka.

Asked after his second-round win over Colombian Alejandro Falla what he thought of the perception he could be real threat in this year's Open, Wawrinka said he hoped to prove his supporters correct and take big strides in 2014.

"Good. Good that they think that,'' Wawrinka said.

"But it's a long way to be there I think. I'm sure that I have the game and I can beat a lot of players.

"But I have to focus in every matches and I need to be ready for the next one.

News_Rich_Media: Andrey Golubev's retired through injury in the second set of his clash with Stanislas Wawrinka to give the Swiss eighth seed an easy progression to the second round.

"If I do well, maybe this tournament I will have a chance to beat one of the top guy, maybe not.

"But I'm focused on trying to improve every day and trying to have a great year.''

In eight appearances at the Australian Open, Wawrinka's best result was a quarter-final appearance in 2011. He reached the third and fourth rounds the past two years.

Wawrinka finished in the top 10 for the first time in his career in 2013 and said qualifying for the World Tour Finals in London last year had bolstered his confidence.

"For me it was a great achievement for me to qualify for London,'' said Warinka, who achieved his best Grand Slam result with his semi-final appearance at the US Open last year.

"It's something that all the players dream about it, you know, to be there. Only the top eight can play that tournament

"After the year I had last year, (it) was great.''

In other men's third-round matches, defending champion Novak Djokovic continues his push for a fourth straight Australian Open crown when he takes on Uzbekistan's Denis Istomin.

Poland's No. 20 seed Jerzy Janowicz will also aim to better his third-round result at last year's Australian Open when he takes on Frenchman and No. 29 seed Jeremy Chardy.