Rafael Nadal of Spain hits a return against Tommy Haas of Germany in their second round men's singles match on day three of the 2012 Australian Open tennis tournament in Melbourne on January 18, 2012.(credit:
TORSTEN BLACKWOOD/AFP/Getty Images))
The Spanish favourite Rafael Nadal is through to the third round at Melbourne Park after defeating Tommy Haas from Germany in 3 straight sets 6-4, 6-3, 6-4.
Current world number two Nadal held off former number two Haas 6-4, 6-3, 6-4 on Wednesday afternoon to secure his place in the Australian Open third round.
Nadal appeared in control to start the match as he raced out to a 4-0 lead, but Haas came close to levelling the score with a break point chance in the tenth game before the Spaniard fought back to claim the first set.
Haas, a three-time Melbourne semi-finalist, challenged the 2009 champion once again as he opened the third set with a break.
His hopes of forcing a set off of Nadal for the first time in five meetings were extinguished, though, as the Spaniard responded with two breaks, clinching the two-hour, 29-minute decision on Haas’ serve.
Nadal said: "I had a very bad game in the beginning of the third. After that, the set is in trouble. If you don't have the break back next game, you will be fighting all the set to try to come back. Finally I did.
"I think he played well. He played aggressive. He played with very good second serves. For moments, his first serve was really difficult to read. I think he played well. My way has to be the seven first games of the match."
Haas, the oldest player in the men's draw at 33 years of age, was pleased with his performance, taking into consideration his lack of match play due to injury over the past couple years.
"Just a few points here and there that could have gone a little bit differently, who knows if one of those sets could have been mine," he said. "Overall I'm pretty happy with the way I played at times.”
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