MELBOURNE: Rafael Nadal didn't let the much-hyped potential future star of Australian tennis stop him in his quest for a fourth consecutive major title. Overcoming a mostly parochial crowd of 15,000 at Rod Laver Arena, the top-ranked Nadal had a 6-2, 7-5, 6-3 win over 18-year-old wild card Bernard Tomic in an Australian Open third-round match Saturday. Nadal advanced to a fourth-round match against Marin Cilic, and a continuing date with destiny. A title at Melbourne Park would make the Spanish star the first man since Rod Laver in 1969 to hold all four Grand Slam trophies at once, although Laver achieved the true Grand Slam by winning all four in a calendar year. “I think I started playing well, but he's the kind of player who can make you play bad,” Nadal said of Tomic. “I have to play a bit better if I want to get to the quarterfinals.” It wasn't always easy – Nadal trailed 4-0 in the second set before giving Tomic a clinic in comeback tennis. At 5-5, he broke Tomic's service, then held in the next game to clinch the set. Tomic, who upset Fernando Lopez in the second round and is being touted as a replacement for Lleyton Hewitt in the lean tennis fortunes Down Under, tried his best but ultimately was no match for the polished and experienced Nadal. French Open finalist Sam Stosur lost 7-6 (5), 6-3 to No. 25 Petra Kvitova, ending Australia's hopes in the women's draw. Earlier Saturday, it was the first game of Andy Murray's match against Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, and the 2010 finalist was doing his best to get into the feel of the third-round match. Hitting a high lob to the back of the court, he watched as Garcia-Lopez ran it down and, facing the back of the court, hit a between-the-legs shot that passed Murray for a winner. Instead of marveling too long at one of the more unusual shots in tennis – like Roger Federer's similar crosscourt winner against Novak Djokovic at the 2009 US Open – Murray broke the Spanish player's serve and went on to beat Garcia-Lopez 6-1, 6-1, 6-2. In other men's results, No. 4 Robin Soderling advanced, as did Marin Cilic, who beat American John Isner in five sets. US Open champion Kim Clijsters, meanwhile, beat Alize Cornet 7-6 (3), 6-3 of France, getting closer to win her second Grand Slam in a row. Second-seeded Vera Zvonareva kept alive her bid for a third consecutive Grand Slam final with a 6-3, 7-6 (9) win over Lucie Safarova. Zvonareva, who lost the US Open final to Clijsters, served for the match twice against Safarova but was extended to the tiebreaker. Safarova led 4-2 and 5-3 in the tiebreaker before Zvonareva finally sealed it on her fourth match point. Zvonareva will meet Iveta Benesova, who beat No. 16 Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-3, 1-6, 7-5. No. 12 Agnieszka Radwanska beat Simona Halep 6-1, 6-2 and will next play China's Peng Shuai, who had a 6-1, 3-6, 6-3 win over Japan's Ayumi Morita. No. 10 Shahar Peer was ousted, losing 3-6, 7-6 (3), 6-4 to No. 22 Flavia Pennetta. Cilic had a 4-6, 6-2, 6-7 (5), 7-6 (2), 9-7 win over No. 20 Isner in 4 hours, 33 minutes. Two former finalists also went out. Marcos Baghdatis, the 2006 runnerup, retired from his third-round match due to a finger injury when he was trailing No. 11 Jurgen Melzer 6-7 (5), 6-2, 6-1, 4-3. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, the 2008 finalist, lost 3-6, 6-3, 3-6, 6-1, 6-1 to Alexandr Dolgopolov. Milos Raonic, a 20-year-old Canadian qualifier with the fastest serve in the first two rounds of the tournament at 143 mph, fired 31 aces while beating No. 10 Mikhail Youzhny 6-4, 7-5, 4-6, 6-4. He'll play No. 7 David Ferrer, a 6-2, 6-2, 6-1 winner over Richard Berankis, in the next round. Soderling, who beat Jan Hernych 6-3, 6-1, 6-4 and next plays Dolgopolov, hasn't dropped a set.
