Rafael Nadal routed Switzerland's No. 2 player 6-2, 6-2, 6-2 in a third-round match yesterday, keeping alive his ultimate aim of a showdown with another Swiss in the Australian Open final.
Nadal, who has spent a record 78 weeks ranked No. 2 behind Swiss star Roger Federer, wasn't really challenged by Stan Wawrinka until the last point.
The 20-year-old Spaniard curled a forehand winner into the right corner on match point, just catching both the side and baselines.
PHOTO: AFP
The players walked to the net -- Wawrinka challenging the "in" call just for the record -- and shook hands when video replays confirmed the ball was good.
Nadal made only 19 unforced errors in 24 games, and dropped serve just once -- when already up two breaks in the second set.
He said it was an improvement on his second-round win over Philipp Kohlschreiber, when he thought he played his best tennis of the year in the fourth set.
"Today I improved -- I play my best today for sure for a long time," he said. "I played a very complete match."
He could next play Scotland's Andy Murray, the only man other than him to beat Federer last year.
Murray was due to play Juan Ignacio Chela of Argentina in a night match yesterday. That was moved indoors to the Vodafone Arena after play on all outside courts was called off for the day because of rain.
Six matches were still either in progress or scheduled on the two courts with retractable roofs.
Eighth-seeded David Nalbandian went the distance in an almost four-hour match, saving three match points in the third set during a 5-7, 4-6, 7-6 (4), 6-4, 6-1 win over Sebastien Grosjean of France.
The Argentine was a point from a third-round exit at 0-40 and 4-5 in the third set, but rallied to hold serve, then dominated the rest of the match.
"It was very difficult. When you are three match points down, anything can happen. You just miss one or he can play a good point, and that's it," said Nalbandian, a semifinalist in Melbourne last year and 2002 Wimbledon runner-up.
Nalbandian also rallied from two sets down and saved match points in the third to win his opening match in an energy-sapping first-round win over Janko Tipsarevic, who retired with heat exhaustion in the fifth set.
The 25-year-old has come back from 0-2 six times and is 14-8 in five-set matches over his career.
"Sometimes lucky. Sometimes I play good," he explained. "But today was lucky."
Nalbandian's first match was one of the few being played when Sharapova was on court for her opener against Camille Pin on Day two -- when most matches were suspended due to the Extreme Heat Policy as temperatures topped 38o C.
The top-seeded Russian got another taste of Melbourne's fickle weather, ignoring the saunalike conditions in Rod Laver Arena in her 6-3, 6-1 third-round victory over 30th-seeded Tathiana Garbin.
After the roof on center court was closed, the air conditioning stopped working.
The players were already sweating profusely after their warmup, while spectators fanned themselves with programs.
"It was a little steamy in there ... humid," Sharapova said. "I've felt cozier in my life."
It was cooler during Martina Hingis' 62-minute 6-2, 6-1 win over Japan's Aiko Nakamura in the next match.
As fast as she was, Hingis lost another race with Kim Clijsters, who beat Alona Bondarenko 6-3, 6-3 in exactly an hour.
The pair, who could meet again in the quarterfinals, have had a running joke about who can finish off their matches quicker.
Clijsters has been faster in the first three.
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