World No 1 Nadal plays his 'best tennis' to send Haas packing

Updated on: 25 January,2009 07:00 AM IST |
AFP |

Spain's Rafael Nadal gave a tennis masterclass on the Rod Laver Arena as he demolished German Tommy Haas

Power-packed! Spain's world number one Rafael Nadal celebrates after beating Germany's Tommy Haas in a men's singles third round match at the Australian Open in Melbourne on Saturday. Nadal won 6-4, 6-2, 6-2. Pics/AP

Haas played some magnificent tennis at times, however Nadal was took command at will, with the power of his groundstrokes constantly stranding his opponent either at the baseline or the net.

Nadal conceded later that he had never played better at the Australian Open.

"I think I played my best match in Australia tonight. I'm very happy with the level of my performance." But in a warning to his rivals he stressed there was still room for improvement. "Perfect matches don't exist," he said when asked how he could possibly play any better. "But today, especially after the first three or four games, I started to play well. In the beginning I was playing too short a little bit and Tommy had control of the points. But that changed after the first few games," Nadal said.

Nadal won the match in a touch over two hours, setting up a fourth round clash with Chilean 13th seed Fernando Gonzalez, who beat Frenchman Richard Gasquet in a five set, four-hour epic. "Hopefully that will affect him a lot," Nadal said with a smile.

"But I don't think that's going to happen, no?

"He didn't play in the sun, with the heat. That's going to be an important factor. "But he's very strong, no?
"He's a very strong player physically, and at the same time he's going to be playing with more confidence than ever because he beat a big player like Richard"

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