Nadal on a cruise

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP):

If Rafael Nadal is getting nervous as he eases closer to winning his fourth consecutive Grand Slam, he sure isn't showing it.

After his 6-2, 6-1, 6-1 win yesterday over American qualifier Ryan Sweeting, the Spanish star appeared as comfortable talking about his next match - against 18-year-old Australian Bernard Tomic - as he was in beating Sweeting so convincingly.

"Practise a little bit tomorrow, rest in the hotel, maybe going to the aquarium - I go every year. Nothing different," Nadal said, when asked about his preparations for tomorrow's match.

Shrugging his shoulders and smiling, he added: "If I start getting nervous two days before a match, I have a big problem."

No real problems

Nadal hasn't had any real problems in recent Grand Slams - yesterday's win was his 23rd in a row in majors going back to the first round of the French Open last year. Since then, he's carted back to his home in Majorca trophies from Roland Garros, Wimbledon and the US Open.

A fourth from the Australian Open - the Norman Brookes Challenge Cup that he won in 2009 - would make him the first man since Rod Laver in 1969 to hold all four major titles at once.

The other player looking as impressive as Nadal this week is US Open champion Kim Clijsters, who is fast becoming a favourite for the women's title in the absence of defending champion Serena Williams with a foot injury.

Clijsters dumped former No. 1-ranked Dinara Safina out of the tournament in the first round, 6-0, 6-0. On Thursday, she beat Carla Suarez Navarro of Spain 6-1, 6-3.

Second-seeded Vera Zvonareva overcame a shaky start to beat Bojana Jovanovski of Serbia 2-6, 6-3, 6-1. Zvonareva was a finalist at the last two Grand Slams, losing to Williams at Wimbledon and Clijsters at the US Open, and started off against Jovanovski like she had no hope of even getting that far at Melbourne Park.

A series of unforced errors gave her opponent an easy first-set win, before Zvonareva kicked into gear in the second. She got an early break and won the deciding set in 30 minutes.

Joining her in the third round from the bottom half of the draw were No. 10 Shahar Peer, who beat Sorana Cirstea 6-3, 6-2, and No. 22 Flavia Pennetta.

Seventh-seeded Jelena Jankovic lost 7-6 (3), 6-3 to China's Peng Shuai, continuing an unimpressive streak of seven losses in eight matches. It was former world No. 1 Jankovic's worst result at a major since the 2009 US Open.

Also, 12th-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland beat Petra Martic of Croatia 6-3, 6-4, and 13th-seeded Petrova defeated Australian Alicia Molik 6-4, 6-1.

Fourth-seeded Robin Soderling of Sweden advanced to the third round with a 6-3, 7-6 (1), 6-1 win over Gilles Muller of Luxembourg, as did fifth-seeded Andy Murray, who lost in the finals to Roger Federer last year. Murray used 16 aces to beat Illya Marchenko of Ukraine 6-1, 6-3, 6-3.