Rory McIlroy is now well on track to move to No. 1 in the world after defeating Denmark’s Anders Hansen to advance to the third round of the WGC – Accenture Match Play Championship.

McIlroy faced a tough struggle in his match against the former BMW PGA Champion.

Hansen took it right to the reigning U.S. Open champion trading blows and going 1up at the third hole with a par before McIlroy doubled the fifth that got Hansen back to all square.

Rory McIlroy striding to success over Anders Hansen on day two of the Accenture Match-Play Championship. (Photo - Fran Caffrey/www.golffile.ie)

McIlroy bounced back to win the seventh and eighth holes to go 2up but Hansen pared the ninth for McIlroy to head to the homeward nine leading 1up.

But while Hansen threw everything he could at the current World No. 2 McIlroy would not budge and with pars at 13 and 14 he found himself 3up.

The match was sealed in McIlroy’s favour when the pair pared the 15th and 16th holes.

Hansen was competing in the $US 8.5m event for a sixth occasion and again he’s failed to advance into the last 16.

In contrast, McIlroy burst through to the quarter finals on debut in 2009 when he beat Louis Oosthuizen, Hunter Mahan and then Tim Clark before losing out 2 & 1 to Australian Geoff Ogilvy.

McIlroy will now face either Spain’s Miguel Angel Jimenez in the third round and the pony-tailed cigar smoking golfer defeated Keegan Bradley 2 & 1.

And if he should succeed and win the final it means that McIlroy is a step closer to becoming the world’s No. 1 ranked player after Luke Donald was bundled out by Ernie Els in a first round match.

But any delight Els enjoyed was short-lived when Sweden’s Peter Hanson completely shutout the four-time Major winner 5 & 4.

Hanson won the first and while Els birdied the second to get back to all square, Hanson stamped his 2010 Ryder Cup winning class winning the sixth, ninth, 11th and 13th holes in one of the most dominant efforts on day two.