BEIJING: Rafael Nadal crushed former world No. 1 Lleyton Hewitt 6-1, 6-2 at the Olympic Tennis Center yesterday before Roger Federer gave El Salvador’s Rafael Arevalo a tennis lesson he will never forget.
Dogged Australian Hewitt tried everything he knew to contain Spanish powerhouse Nadal but he proved no match for the 22-year-old who is looking to add Olympic gold to the French Open and Wimbledon crowns he has won this year. While Nadal faced a familiar foe, Federer had probably never heard of Arevalo who arrived on Center Court with a ranking of 447. The Swiss duly won 6-2, 6-4 but Arevalo played a full part in an entertaining tussle played in a crackling atmosphere.
Chilean Nicolas Massu’s hopes of emulating his incredible run to the singles title in Athens four years died at the hands of Argentine David Nalbandian, who won 7-6, 6-1.
Nikolay Davydenko became the highest-ranked men’s casualty so far when he fell, 7-5 6-3, to Paul-Henri Mathieu, one of three Frenchman into the third round.
Novak Djokovic of Serbia made no mistake when he saw off Germany’s Rainer Schuettler 6-4, 6-2.
American sisters Serena and Venus Williams rolled on toward a likely gold medal showdown with easy second-round wins in the women’s singles.
Serena needed just 44 minutes to blow away Australian Samantha Stosur 6-2, 6-0 and shortly afterwards on Center Court Venus beat Czech Iveta Benesova 6-1, 6-4.
Nadal had never beaten Hewitt on hardcourts and trailed the Australian 4-3 in career meetings.
Statistics counted for nothing, however, as Nadal sent Hewitt scuttling to all corners of the court with a display of spin, power and deadly precision.
“I felt like he played flawless tennis out there tonight,” Hewitt told reporters before contemplating another clash with the Spaniard in doubles today.
China’s Zheng Jie and Li Na raised the decibel levels when partisan crowds roared them into the third round. Zheng outlasted Spain’s Nuria Llagostera Vives 6-7, 6-1, 6-4 before Li beat Japan’s Ayumi Morita 6-2, 7-5.
After Russian third favorite Svetlana Kuznetsova’s demise on Monday, two more women’s seeds fell. Slovak Daniela Hantuchova, seeded 10, was beaten by Denmark’s Caroline Wozniacki 6-1, 6-3 and Polish hope Agnieszka Radwanska lost to Italian Francesca Schiavone 6-3, 7-6.
New world No. 1 Jelena Jankovic showed no signs of a calf strain when she opened the evening session with a a 7-5 6-1 defeat of Ukraine’s Alona Bondarenko.
