World No. 1 Rafael Nadal survived a brief scare against local teenager Bernard Tomic to reach the Australian Open last 16 yesterday, as women’s favorite Kim Clijsters also battled through.
Nadal was surprisingly broken twice by the Australian 18-year-old in the second set, before recovering strongly to win 6-2, 7-5, 6-3.
Nadal, ironically the last teen to beat a world No. 1 at a major when he conquered Roger Federer at the 2005 French Open, stretched his Grand Slam streak to 23 matches after winning Roland Garros, Wimbledon and the US Open last year.
Photo: AFP
The 24-year-old Spaniard will next play Marin Cilic after the Croatian 15th seed defeated fellow five-set specialist John Isner 4-6, 6-2, 6-7 (5/7), 7-6 (7/2), 9-7 in 4 hours, 33 minutes.
Robin Soderling and Andy Murray, among the leading favorites to break Nadal and defending champion Federer’s Grand Slam stranglehold, were on a collision course for the quarter-finals as both reached week two without dropping a set.
Murray, last year’s beaten finalist and the fifth seed, dismissed Guillermo Garcia-Lopez of Spain 6-1, 6-1, 6-2, as he seeks the UK’s first Grand Slam title in 75 years. He will face Jurgen Melzer in the next round.
Photo: EPA
Soderling, backed by Swedish great Bjorn Borg, eyed his fourth successive Grand Slam quarter--final after cruising past Jan Hernych 6-3, 6-1, 6-4. He will play Ukraine’s Alexandr Dolgopolov, who beat 2008 finalist Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.
Milos Raonic, the 20-year-old Canadian with the thunderous serve, shocked 10th seed Mikhail Youzhny to reach the fourth round on debut and register his first win against a top-10 player.
Raonic, who served a -tournament-quickest 230kph screamer against Michael Llodra, will play David Ferrer after the Spanish baseliner knocked out 20-year-old Lithuanian Richard Berankis.
Austria’s Melzer, the 11th seed, went through when 2006 finalist Marcos Baghdatis pulled out of their match with a finger injury while trailing in the fifth set.
Earlier, US Open champion Clijsters was made to work by France’s Alize Cornet, who fought hard, but could not prevent the Belgian winning 7-6 (7/3), 6-3.
World No. 2 Vera Zvonareva, who could also finish the -tournament as world No. 1, survived a Lucie Safarova fightback to stay on course for her third successive Grand Slam final.
Zvonareva looked set for an easy win until she tightened up and needed two match points in a tense tiebreak before going through 6-3, 7-6 (11/9). The Russian’s next opponent is Czech player Iveta Benesova.
China’s Peng Shuai beat Japan’s Ayumi Morita to join compatriot Li Na in the fourth round, raising hopes they can match Li and Zheng Jie’s run to last year’s semis. Peng will now face Poland’s Agnieszka Radwanska.
However, Czech player Petra Kvitova doused local hopes when she knocked out below-par French Open finalist Samantha Stosur, the fifth seed, 7-6 (7/5), 6-3.
Kvitova sets up a last-16 clash with Italy’s Flavia Pennetta, who beat Israel’s Shahar Peer in three sets.
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