Australian Open 2011: Rafael Nadal breezes into third round
World number one Rafael “Rafa” Nadal continued the bid for his fourth straight Grand Slam title at Melbourne Park on Thursday.
Having won the Wimbledon Championship, Roland Garros and the United States Open in 2010, Nadal hopes to win the 2011 Australian Open in order to become the first man since Rod Laver to hold all four titles at once.
Debuted in 2004, Nadal is putting in his fifth straight performance at the event since 2007. The Spaniard was absent from the 2006 event due to an injury. His career-best performance at the event came in 2009 when he defeated former world number one Roger
Federer to win his sixth Grand Slam title.
Appearing at the event for the seventh time, Nadal started his title run pitted against Marcos Daniel in the opening round. Rafa won eleven straight games before Daniel retired due to a knee injury.
After receiving the walkover in the first round, Nadal was to face Ryan Sweeting in the second.
Meeting for the first time on the courts, Nadal was quick to dismiss the American. Rushing into the lead, Nadal broke Sweeting’s serve twice to clinch a 6-2 victory in the first set. Dominating the courts, Rafa secured twin breadstick wins in the next two
sets to send the American packing.
Nadal moves into the third round where he will play local wildcard entrant Bernard Tomic.
Capitalising on the home court advantage, Tomic upset 31st seed Feliciano Lopez in straight sets. After a tight first set, Tomic clinched a 7-4 victory in the first tiebreaker. Following suit in the second set, Tomic secured a 7-3 win in the second
tiebreaker before winning the third set 6-3.
Another seed upset of the day came in the form of 22nd seed Michael Llodra. Canadian qualifier Milos Raonic secured a close straight sets victory against the Frenchman in the pair’s second round clash. In a match that lasted almost two hours,
Raonic prevailed 7-6, 6-3, 7-6. He will now play either Mikhail Youzhny or Blaz Kavcic in the next round.
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