- Spain's Rafael Nadal reaches the fourth round of the Australian Open in Melbourne
- World number one ends Australian hopes by defeating wild card Bernard Tomic
- Number four seed Robin Soderling and number five seed Andy Murray win in straight sets
- France's 13th seed and former finalist Jo Wilfred Tsonga loses to unseeded Ukrainian
(CNN) -- World number one Rafael Nadal overcame a spirited challenge from 18-year-old home favorite Bernard Tomic to reach the fourth round of the Australian Open Saturday.
The Spaniard, aiming to become the first man since Rod Laver in 1969 to hold all four grand slam titles at once, remains on course to complete the so-called "Rafa Slam" in Melbourne following his straight sets victory over the wild card.
But the Aussie teenager proved why he is being hailed as a future champion by giving the nine-time grand slam winner Nadal his toughest test of the tournament so far.
Nadal broke serve twice to take the first set comfortably 6-2, but the world number 199 Tomic was not disheartened and quickly raced to a 4-0 lead in the second, thanks to some impressive shot-making to achieve a double break.
--Rafael Nadal
But the top seed Nadal showed why he is such a formidable opponent by clawing back the breaks, sealing the second set 7-5 and the third 6-3, ending Australia's hope for a homegrown champion in 2011.
After the match Nadal was full of praise for the young Aussie and said that he could be a potential challenger for his place at the top of the game in the future.
"I congratulate him, I think he's improving every year a lot, he's very young, and if he keep improving like this, he's going to have big chances to be in the top very soon," Nadal told the official Australian open website.
"I started the match playing well, but he's this kind of player he makes you play bad no, it's very difficult to move him from the baseline.
"Every time it's going to be more and more difficult, I'm sure of that, I'm sure he is going to be a big rival."
Earlier, Robin Soderling of Sweden and Great Britain's Andy Murray secured comfortable third round victories.
Seeded fourth and fifth, the pair are on course for a quarterfinal clash and both have reached the last 16 without dropping a set.
Soderling eased past Jan Hernych 6-3 6-1 6-4 and will next play Alexandr Dolgopolov who caused an upset by knocking out France's 13th seed Jo-Wilfred Tsonga.
The unseeded Ukrainian came from a set down to beat the 2008 finalist in five, 3-6 6-3 3-6 6-1 6-1
Last year's beaten finalist Murray defeated Guillermo Garcia-Lopez of Spain 6-1 6-1 6-2 to earn a clash with Jurgen Melzer of Austria in the next round.
The 11th seed progressed to the fourth round when 21st-ranked Marcus Baghdatis of Cyprus was forced to retire injured when trailing Melzer by two sets to one.
Seventh seed David Ferrer of Spain was a comfortable victor over Lithuania's Richard Berankis, winning 6-2 6-2 6-1.
Croatia's 15th seed Marin Cilic beat America's 20th seed John Isner 4-6 6-2 6-7 7-6 9-7 to book his place in last 16.
But tenth seed Mikhail Youznhy was a surprising third round casualty, after the Russian lost to the talented 20-year-old Canadian Milos Raonic 4-6 5-7 6-4 4-6.
No comments:
Post a Comment