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Rafa
Nadal and Kim Clijsters continued their smooth progress through the
Australian Open as Melbourne Park finally witnessed a smattering of
upsets and sustained periods of sunshine on Thursday.

The morning after
Roger Federer survived a huge scare in his second round match, Nadal
resumed normal service for the dominant top-two in the game with a
102-minute 6-2 6-1 6-1 battering of world number 116, Ryan Sweeting.
The world number one eased to his 23rd successive victory at a major on
Rod Laver Arena as he continued his pursuit of a fourth successive
grand slam title, a feat only achieved by two men before him. Sweeting
was game, but if the gap between Nadal and Federer and the rest of the
top 10 is wide, there is a chasm separating the Spaniard from players
outside the top 100. Nadal married his usual muscular aggression with a
fully functioning serve to set up a third-round meeting with local
teenager, Bernard Tomic, who shocked 31st-seeded Spaniard Feliciano
Lopez 7-6 7-6 6-3.

Clijsters’s 6-1 6-3
victory over world number 62, Carla Suarez Navarro, was so
straightforward that the highlight came afterwards when the third seed
handbagged the courtside interviewer over a text message he had sent to
another player. “You said you thought I was pregnant!” she told the
former grand slam doubles champion Todd Woodbridge. “The text said:
‘She looks really grumpy and her boobs look bigger’.” The three-times
U.S. Open champion denied she was expecting a second child, laughing as
Woodbridge cringed in embarrassment and declared his television career
over.

Jankovic flops

Jelena Jankovic had
no cause for such levity after she became the first top-10 seed from
either draw to exit the tournament, losing 7-6 6-3 to China’s Peng
Shuai. The seventh seed blew a 4-1 first-set lead and racked up 39
unforced errors as she slumped to her seventh defeat in her last eight
matches. “I mean, as a top player – I’ve been number one in the world –
it’s tough to sometimes accept those mistakes,” a despairing Jankovic
said. “Really at times I couldn’t believe I can do that, why am I doing
that?”

Russians seeds; Maria Kirilenko (18) and Alisa Kleybanova (24,) as
well as Spain’s Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez (26,) also headed for the
exit after second round defeats. Another upset came in the men’s draw
where big-serving Canadian qualifier, Milos Raonic, beat French 22nd
seed, Michael Llodra, 7-6 6-3 7-6. “This is my biggest result,” the
20-year-old said. “It’s my biggest achievement to date. But I hope to
do more than this. I feel that I can. I feel like I’m playing at a
level… that I’m there with the top guys.” Raonic will test his
confidence against Russian Mikhail Youzhny in the third round after the
10th seed came through a gruelling five set match against Slovenian
Blaz Kavcic 6-3 6-1 5-7 4-6 6-1.