• Australian Open, Day Three

What They Said

Rafael Nadal eased past Tommy Haas to reach the third round © Getty Images

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Men's round-up: Nadal cruises, Fed gets walkover
Women's round-up: Clijsters dominant, Wozniacki prevails

Day Three Gallery
Plays of the Day

Second seed Rafael Nadal overcame good friend Tommy Haas, and had nothing but praise for the German after his straight-sets win, saying: "He's a fantastic player. He's had a lot of injuries the last couple of years but it's always great to play Tommy. He's thinking about retiring but I thought he played well this afternoon. It is much better and I am so happy the knee is improving and I am able to play without pain."

Four-time champion Roger Federer had a free pass into the third round after Andreas Beck withdrew with a back problem. Federer, who struggled with a back injury of his own before the tournament, admitted it was a sensible decision by the German.

"It came as a surprise. He said he had a lot painkillers and pain during the last match. I think it happened four, five days ago. He doesn't want to risk it early in the season, best five sets against me. Nothing he could have done, even though he would love to play against me. I guess it's the only smart decision for him to take."

Top seed Caroline Wozniacki progressed without too much problem as she defeated Anna Tatishvili 6-1 7-6(4) and she revealed she had been taking tips from boyfriend Rory McIlroy: "You can't really do anything about the past. You just need to look forward. You have a tournament now, and you want to do the best you can. That's it. Then if it goes well, it's great. If not, you have the next one. It's like tennis. So, you know, it's just important not to dwell too much in the past."

David Nalbandian was left fuming at the referee following his defeat to John Isner. The Argentine wanted to challenge the umpire after he had overruled a line judge, but was told he was too late. "In that moment, he call overrule, I call HawkEye, and he didn't give it. I didn't understand in that situation, 8-8 break point. I mean, can you be that stupid to do that in that moment?"

Mardy Fish was dumped out by Alejandro Falla © Getty Images

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Mardy Fish was a big-name casualty on Wednesday, but the American was philosophical about his loss to Alejandro Falla, saying: "Just let some opportunities go. I think I played well, had some chances, made too many errors. Conditions are about as ideal for me as I would have liked as far as the second and third set, heat and stuff. It just didn't work out. You know, couple of tie-breakers that I won last year, you know, most of those. He played good when he needed to."

Kim Clijsters dropped a single game in her day-three win, showing no signs of the hip injury which forced her out of the Brisbane International. The defending champion is now looking forward to taking on Daniela Hantuchova in round three, saying: "When the (hip) injury happened, it happened against Daniela. She's been playing well this season so far. We both go back a long way - we grew up playing under-14s together. Now almost 30 - still battling it out."

Li Na scored an emphatic win on Rod Laver Arena, but last year's runner-up played modest after her 6-2 6-2 victory over Olivia Rogowska, saying: "The score looks easy but some games I did a lot of fighting. Actually it feels really good to be back. I've got such great memories of last year and you can't help but think 'Ah, this court'. Of course you can lose at a court and come back and have bad memories, but this time, it's a good feeling."

Jelena Jankovic lamented her slow start on day three, but still easily accounted for little-known Kai-Chen Chang, saying: "I started pretty slowly, I needed to figure out how to play her," said the former world number one from Serbia. I really didn't know her style of play. I had heard a few things from other players but I didn't know how I should strike ball. But I kept going, started to play well, stayed confident and after the first set it was a little bit easier."

Former French Open champion Francesca Schiavone admitted she did not deserve to win as she crashed out at the hands of fellow Italian Romina Oprandi: I think was really bad match for me. I couldn't play like I supposed and I was playing to play."

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