Nadal raises the bar

Nadal: Impressive

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World number two Rafael Nadal threw down the gauntlet to arch-rival Roger Federer on Wednesday when taking just 94 minutes to see off Florent Serra at the Australian Open in Melbourne.

The Spaniard breezed into the third round with a 6-0 6-2 6-2 dismissal of the Frenchman, putting behind him a scratchy first round performance against Viktor Troicky.

And while Nadal admitted his game is little changed this season he still hopes to topple Federer in a Grand Slam away from his beloved Roland Garros for the first time.

"I have never won a Grand Slam outside of clay," he said. "I'd love to win any one of them. If it's this year, all the better.

"But I know Roger has gone 15 Grand Slams without losing before the semi-finals, or something like that.

Very happy

"I saw him playing with confidence (against Diego Hartfield), hitting the ball well and playing very well. Not much different to usual." he said.

"I'm very happy to be number two and I would love to be number two for the next hundred years

"It's a very good position, especially with my points position.

"I'm very happy to be here, very happy about my last three seasons, but I will try my best to gain top position this season too."

There were few upsets in the men's draw on day three of the championship although 11th seed Tommy Robredo was dumped out by Mardy Fish of the United States, 6-1 6-2 6-3.

The Spaniard had looked vulnerable in his first round match against the unheralded Mischa Zverev of Germany and so it proved, with Fish dominating from the start to ease into the last 32.

Sixth seed Andy Roddick sealed his place in the third round with a comfortable 6-2 6-2 6-4 victory over Michael Berrer of Germany, while fourth-ranked Nikolai Davydenko enjoyed a similarly easy passage against Nicolas Mahut, winning 6-4 6-0 6-3.