Australian Open 2012 live stream

Rafael Nadal is a creature of habit. Almost obsessive about the placing of his water bottles on the court, the length of his socks and not stepping on the lines, he is not a fan of change or disorder. Unsurprisingly, then, he clobbered Feliciano Lopez 6-4, 6-4, 6-2, as he always does, to become the first man to reach the quarter finals.

When Rafa plays his great mate Feli, there can only be one winner. True, as he came into Sunday’s match, Lopez had the fond memory of two wins in 10 meetings to cling to, but those victories did not count for much. The first was on a lightning fast indoor surface back in 2003 when Nadal was a mere baby of 17 and the second was a couple of years ago at Queen’s Club on grass.

Now, much as Lopez will treasure that Queen’s Club win, most people could spot that result coming. In 2010, Nadal was reinforcing his position as the all-conquering hero after a year plagued with injuries in 2009. Coming into to the clay court season, he started winning and went from Monte Carlo to Roland Garros unbeaten – the clay court slam. And he was absolutely knackered. Coming into Queen’s, he was desperate for a couple of days at home in Majorca before he got stuck into Wimbledon. And losing to his best mate was no disgrace. So he lost and went home.

This, though, was the Australian Open; this was important and after two hours and 25 minutes, Nadal had left his mate splattered all over the Rod Laver Arena; there was little by way of friendship and little by way of sympathy.

Working on the theory that coming forward would give Nadal a target to aim for, Lopez tried staying back. That must make sense, surely... oh-oh. 0-15. Maybe not. Well then, serve and volley must be the way to go, attack is the best form of defence... oh. Rats. Not again. There was nowhere for Lopez to run to and nowhere for him to hide as Nadal was behaving in a distinctly unfriendly manner.

“Feliciano today is one of my best friends on tour,” Nadal said. “That's the game. That's the sport. You understand that's only a game. You understand that everybody wants to win; everybody wants to finish the match with the best result.”

And the best result is to be in the last eight in double quick time and without dropping a set. There are much bigger challenges to come and much more work to do but at the midway point in the tournament, everything is ticking along nicely. John Newcombe gave Nadal a nine-out-of-ten mark for his performance so what mark did Nadal think his coach, Uncle Toni, would give him (Uncle Toni is not known for his generosity of spirit when it comes to assessing his nephew’s efforts)? “I don’t know,” Nadal said with a shrug. “If you wait 10 minutes, I go, I come back.” But even if Toni is unlikely to praise Nadal to the hilt – he does not want his boy to become complacent – he will have been pleased with what he saw on Sunday.

The crowd, meanwhile, wanted to see more. Much more. As Nadal stripped of his sweat-sodden shirt after the match and freshened up before facing the TV cameras, they were baying him for him to go topless. “I cannot,” he said backing away, “I cannot. Only if I am in the final.”

That was something for everyone to look forward to because, make no mistake, Nadal means business this week and the final is his goal. With a winning record over both Tomas Berdych (he hasn’t lost to him since 2006) and Nicolas Almagro (seven wins, no losses), one of whom will be his next opponent, Nadal, the creature of habit, is doing exactly what he always does. Uncle Toni would not have it any other way.