Nadal and Clijsters Advance to the Third Round Down Under

If Rafael Nadal is getting nervous as he eases closer to winning his fourth consecutive Grand Slam, he sure isn’t showing it. After his 6-2, 6-1, 6-1 win Thursday over American qualifier Ryan Sweeting at the 2011 Australian Open in Melbourne, the Spanish star will now take on local favorite, 18-year-old Australian Bernard Tomic.  Thursday’s win was his 23rd in a row in majors going back to the first round of the French Open last year. Winning the Australian Open would make him the first man since Rod Laver in 1969 to hold all four major titles at once. Tomic, the last Australian male left in the draw, advanced with a 7-6 (4), 7-6 (3), 6-3 win over number 31 Feliciano Lopez of Spain.

Australian Open 2006 finalist Marcos Baghdatis advanced with a 6-1, 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 win over 2009 U.S. Open champion Juan Martin del Potro, who called the trainer on three straight changes of end in the second set to have his problematic right wrist treated. Del Potro played only three tournaments, including a run to the fourth round here, last year due to the wrist injury.

Argentina’s David Nalbandian, who beat former number one-ranked Lleyton Hewitt in a five-set, first-round match on Tuesday, retired from his second-round match against Richard Berankis of Lithuania due to exhaustion. Berankis was leading, 6-1, 6-0, 2-0.

In other men’s action, fourth-seeded Robin Soderling of Sweden advanced to the third round with a 6-3, 7-6 (1), 6-1 win over Gilles Muller of Luxembourg, as did fifth-seeded Andy Murray, who lost in the finals to Roger Federer last year. Murray used 16 aces to beat Illya Marchenko of the Ukraine, 6-1, 6-3, 6-3. Also advancing in the men’s draw were number 10 Mikhail Youzhny, number 13 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, number 15 Marin Cilic and number 32 Guillermo Garcia-Lopez. Canada’s Milos Raonic produced a second-round upset, beating number 22 Michael Llodra of France, 7-6 (3), 6-3, 7-6 (4).

On the women’s side, Kim Clijsters is fast becoming a favorite for the women’s title in the absence of defending champion Serena Williams with a foot injury. Clijsters dispatched of former number one-ranked Dinara Safina out of the tournament in the first round, 6-0, 6-0. On Thursday, she beat Carla Suarez Navarro of Spain, 6-1, 6-3. She is on schedule for a rematch with Nadia Petrova in the fourth round. Petrova defeated Clijsters at the 2010 Austrailian Open.

Second-seeded Vera Zvonareva overcame a shaky start to beat Bojana Jovanovski of Serbia, 2-6, 6-3, 6-1. A series of unforced errors gave her opponent an easy first-set win, before Zvonareva kicked into gear in the second. She got an early break and won the deciding set in 30 minutes.

Joining Zvonareva in the third round from the bottom half of the draw were number 10 Shahar Peer, who beat Sorana Cirstea, 6-3, 6-2, and number 22 Flavia Pennetta.Seventh-seeded Jelena Jankovic lost 7-6 (3), 6-3 to China’s Peng Shuai, continuing an unimpressive streak of seven losses in eight matches. Also, 12th-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland beat Petra Martic of Croatia, 6-3, 6-4, and 13th-seeded Petrova defeated Australian Alicia Molik, 6-4, 6-1.

For more information, visit www.australianopen.com.