• Australian Open, Day Four

Nadal on course for atomic Aussie after sweet win

Rafael Nadal broke a sweat on centre court - but not because of Ryan Sweeting © Getty Images

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Australian Open women's round-up:
Jankovic becomes first major casualty

Rafael Nadal lost his first games of the Australian Open but still progressed to the third round in cruise control as the world No.1 sent qualifier Ryan Sweeting packing with a 6-2 6-1 6-1 thrashing on Thursday.

Nadal, who is overcoming the final stages of a flu he had last week in Doha, called for the towel between points but only because of the Melbourne heat, not due to any threat the outclassed Sweeting posed to him. Sweeting appeared nervous as he bumbled his way to losing his opening service game and Nadal's superiority in every department left the American scratching his head after the match.

Sweeting said: "He's too good to just give unforced errors. You're not going to win the match by his mistakes; you're going to have to execute. So the only advice I could give a younger player going out to play him on that big stage is to go for your shots. Even top 10 players, they have to go for it or they're not going to beat him."

That advice will need to be heeded by Australian teenager Bernard Tomic, who will be Nadal's next opponent after upsetting Spanish veteran Feliciano Lopez 7-6 7-6 6-3. Tomic continues to come of age and is shaping up as one of the stories of the tournament down under, although his best Grand Slam run so far is almost certain to end at the hands of the world's best.

No.31 seed Lopez collapsed physically and mentally during the match, continuing his career run of relative poor form in Melbourne where he has failed to get past the third round in eight attempts.

Nadal will not take victory over Tomic for granted, as he said: "I think is nice to have a young Australian coming well and having very good talent and very good future. So I'm excited to go on court and to try my best tennis, and for sure to try to win. If I play against local heroes, like I played against Lleyton [Hewitt] a few years ago, the crowd was fantastic all the time. For sure the support is always with them, but always with very good respect for me."

Robin Soderling appeared to struggle with the rising temperatures in Melbourne but the Swede had enough in the tank to secure a 6-3 7-6(1) 6-1 win over Gilles Muller. It is the No. 4 seed's first appearance in the third round of the Australian Open.

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga powered down 20 aces against Andreas Seppi © Getty Images

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Former US Open winner Juan Martin Del Potro's Australian Open challenge came to a halt at the hands of Marcos Baghdatis. The Argentine is fighting his way back to fitness following the serious wrist injury that plagued him last season, but he was short of his best against Baghdatis. The Cypriot was roared on by his army of fans and despite Del Potro fighting back by taking the third set, he progressed to a clash with Jurgen Melzer with a 6-1 6-3 4-6 6-3 win.

No.10 seed Mikhail Youzhny got through after a taxing five-setter against Blaz Kavcic. Youzhny lit up the tournament with a 'tweener' passing shot winner similar to Roger Federer's effort at the US Open last year. It was credit to 98-ranked Kavcic that Youzhny was pushed so hard, but he eventually prevailed 6-3 6-1 5-7 4-6 6-1.

David Nalbandian showed the heart of a lion in beating Lleyton Hewitt 9-7 in the fifth set, but his efforts against the Australian proved in vain as the Argentine offered nothing against Richard Berankis and was 6-1 6-0 2-0 down when he trudged up to the net and offered his hand to his Lithuanian opponent.

Marin Cilic progressed comfortably, beating Santiago Giraldo 6-3 7-6 6-1. But fellow seed Michael Llodra is out, with 20-year-old Canadian Milos Raonic springing a shock straight sets victory 7-6 6-3 7-6.

Jurgen Melzer has risen to No. 11 in the world and the Austrian has the look of a real threat to the top names judged on his 6-2 6-4 6-2 win over Spain's Pere Riba.

The No. 32 seed Guillermo Garcia-Lopez came through a titanic second-set tiebreak to beat Eduardo Schwank 6-4 7-6(8) 6-1, while Alexander Dolgopolov survived a test from Benjamin Becker to win 6-3 6-0 3-6 7-6(3).

Big-serving American John Isner dropped the first set to Radek Stepanek but emerged with a 4-6 6-4 6-2 6-1 win. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga recovered from his five-set marathon in the first round to beat Andreas Seppi 6-3 7-6(1) 7-6(5). Thomaz Bellucci and Jan Hernych served up a four-and-a-half-hour epic, which the former came through courtesy of a 2-6 7-6(11) 4-6 7-6(3) 8-6 win.

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