Ruthless start to Nadal slam quest sets tone at Melbourne

Melbourne:  Rafa Nadal opened his hotly anticipated Australian Open campaign with a ruthless dispatch of an ailing Brazilian journeyman yesterday, setting the tone for a day of pitifully one-sided contests at Melbourne Park.

A second Australian Open title would make Nadal the first man in more than four decades to hold the quartet of grand slam titles at the same time, and his first step was taken with single-minded purpose.

Brazilian Marcos Daniel mustered up just 12 points in 46 minutes before he decided his injured left knee, and possibly his pride, could take no more and he called an end to the contest with Nadal leading 6-0 5-0.

The world number one knows very well the pain of injury having hobbled out of Melbourne Park in the quarter-finals when his own knees gave up on him last year, and he was full of sympathy for his 32-year-old opponent.

"He tried his best during the match," said the Spanish top seed. "He didn't want to retire. That says a lot for him. Not everybody's able to do this. So all the respect to him."

The short contest left Nadal, who was struggling with flu in the run up to the tournament, with little better idea of the level of his game.

Room for improvement

"It's difficult to say I played really well or I played bad," he added. "I think I played right. I played some good shots, some long shots. The serve can be a little bit better. Yeah, that's the only point that I think I can improve."

Kim Clijsters, a favourite for the women's title, was equally ruthless in humiliating fellow former number one Dinara Safina 6-0 6-0 — the dreaded double bagel — in the opening match of her campaign.

The US Open champion needed just 44 minutes to reach the second round, bustling around the court to clinically pick apart the hapless Russian.

Like Nadal, Andy Murray's passage was eased by a retirement when Slovakia's Karol Beck quit with the fifth seed 6-3 6-1 4-2 up but the Briton's win was overshadowed by a freak incident involving his doubles playing brother Jamie.

"He hit a baby sparrow when he was practising his serve," Murray, the losing finalist here last year, told reporters. "I think he killed it. My mum told me about it when I woke up this morning," Murray said. "I hope he didn't do it on purpose. I haven't seen him yet today. It was a pretty traumatic start to the day..."

Robin Soderling, who leapfrogged Murray into the fourth seed position courtesy of his title win in the Brisbane warm-up, cruised through his first round encounter with Potito Starace 6-4 6-2 6-2.

"I'm not fearing anyone, but at the same time I fear all," said the Swede, who has never been past the second round at Melbourne Park.

Pressure to play well

"I know that when I play well, I can beat everyone. But the same time, I really have to play well because last year... I didn't play well at all and I lost first round."

Vera Zvonareva, the number two women's seed rattled off a 6-2 6-1 victory over Austria's Sybille Bammer in the opening match on a cool and blustery Rod Laver Arena.

"I'm just enjoying playing here," said the Russian, a tearful losing finalist at Wimbledon and the US Open last year.

RESULTS

Yesterday's matches (x denotes seeding):

1st round: Men's singles

Women's singles:

Jelena Jankovic (SRB x7) bt Alla Kudryavtseva (RUS) 6-0, 7-6 (7/5)