Nadal and Clijsters in quarterfinals MELBOURNE: The “Rafa Slam” is still alive after Rafael Nadal beat Marin Cilic 6-2, 6-4, 6-3 at the Australian Open Monday to maintain his chance of owning all four Grand Slam trophies at once. That's a feat which hasn't been achieved since Rod Laver won four majors in 1969. Playing on Melbourne Park's center court that is named after the Australian legend, Nadal advanced to a quarterfinal against Spain's David Ferrer as he attempts to add to the Grand Slam titles he won last year at the French Open, Wimbledon and the US Open. A favorite for the women's title here, US Open champion Kim Clijsters, also advanced to the quarterfinals Monday with a 7-6 (3), 6-2 win over Ekaterina Makarova of Russia. Nadal hasn't dropped a set through four rounds at Melbourne Park, despite carrying the effects of a virus he picked up two weeks ago in Qatar. At Nadal's previous match, he sweated profusely in a night match Saturday, saying he was still feeling the effects of the virus. “I'm not sweating that much tonight,” Nadal said. “The two other days I was sweating like crazy and I felt very tired when I played the match. Today was the first day I felt perfect physically.” A capacity crowd of 15,000 that included American country music star Kenny Rogers – sitting next to seven-time Grand Slam singles winner Evonne Goolagong Cawley of Australia – saw Nadal struggle at times on his serve. Earlier, fifth-seeded Andy Murray also advanced to the quarterfinals, setting up a possible semifinal with Nadal. “I don't want to get carried away,” Murray said after his 6-3, 6-1, 6-1 win over Jurgen Melzer of Austria. “I've never won one of these things before.” The win put Murray closer to a second straight appearance in the final at Melbourne Park, where he lost to Roger Federer last year after beating Nadal in the quarterfinals. He also came close to ending a woeful British streak – no male winner of a Grand Slam since Fred Perry in 1936 – at the 2008 US Open, where he lost final to Federer. Before Murray gets a potential crack at Nadal, he'll face an unexpected quarterfinal rival after 22-year-old Ukrainian Alexandr Dolgopolov had an upset 1-6, 6-3, 6-1, 4-6, 6-2 win over fourth-seeded Robin Soderling, ending the French Open finalist's eight-match winning streak. Dolgopolov said his father, Oleksandar, worked as a coach for the likes of Andrei Medvedev, so he sometimes hit with the players when they were practicing and the family was on tour. “For sure I had some good times. I was a bit maybe annoying for some players to play with me,” he said. “It was nice to start a tennis career like that.” No. 7 David Ferrer set up a quarterfinal match against fellow Spaniard Nadal with his 4-6, 6-2, 6-3, 6-4 win over 20-year-old Canadian qualifier Milos Raonic, who'd upset No. 10 Mikhail Youzhny in the third round. No. 2-ranked Vera Zvonareva continued her roll toward a third consecutive Grand Slam final with a 6-4, 6-1 win over Iveta Benesova. Zvonareva, who lost the Wimbledon final to Serena Williams and the US Open final to Clijsters last year, moved into a quarterfinal match against No. 25 Petra Kvitova, who rallied to beat No. 22 Flavia Pennetta 3-6, 6-3, 6-3. No. 12 Agnieszka Radwanska beat China's Peng Shuai 7-5, 3-6, 7-5 and will meet Clijsters in the quarters.
