Second seed Rafael Nadal breezed into the Australian Open third round with a 6-0 6-2 6-2 demolition of Frenchman Florent Serra on Wednesday.
The world number two won the first eight games with his usual barrage of heavy groundstrokes and although Serra competed more effectively in the second and third sets, he never threatened to halt the Spaniard’s progress.
”I play good, especially I started very well and I played a very high level in the first set,” Nadal told reporters. ”Later I had some mistakes but anyway I’m happy about the match and I improved a lot with my serve and with the forehand.”
Nadal, seeking his first Australian Open title, completed victory in one hour 34 minutes and next plays Frenchman Gilles Simon or Germany’s Rainer Schuettler.
The three-times French Open champion enjoyed playing during the day at Melbourne Park after being forced to take the court at night several times on the way to last year’s quarterfinals and in his first-round clash with Viktor Troicki.
”Last year I have some night matches and it’s tough, especially for the next day,” Nadal said. ”Because if you play a very long match in the night session you can go to sleep at five or six [in the morning]. For sure, if it’s possible I prefer to play day session.” – Reuters