Tennis: Nadal goes up a gear in victory

Reigning champion Rafael Nadal showed his immense superiority on clay while Roger Federer showed his feet of clay at the French Open tournament.

Nadal said he felt close to his best after ruthlessly dismissing Lleyton Hewitt 6-1, 6-3, 6-1 to sweep into the fourth round. The Spaniard, aiming for a fifth successive title at Roland Garros, was not entirely convincing in his opening two wins - over Marcos Daniel and Teimuraz Gabashvili - but he stepped up a gear yesterday, smashing Hewitt 6-1 6-3 6-1.

Robin Soderling, the 23rd seed, is Nadal's next opponent and he has warned the Swede about his improving form, saying: "I felt much better today than the other days. I've improved a little bit every day. You must be playing well to beat Lleyton. It's an amazing result for me. I'm happy, really happy."

Nadal showed why he is the man to beat at Roland Garros with a scintilating display against the former world number one. He piled the pressure on Hewitt from the start, breaking the Australian twice in his first three service games to lead 5-1 and saving a break point of his own before wrapping up the first set.

"He's hitting the ball extremely clean and he has that heavy spin. He makes you rush, he hits passing shots on the run and makes you try harder," said Hewitt of Nadal.

Hewitt's serve was undone again by the Spaniard's thumping groundstrokes at the start of the second set but the former world no.1 showed trademark determination to win three games in a row and lead 3-2.

Stubborness on its own was not enough, however, and two phenomenal forehand winners down the line from Nadal quickly saw him break again and Hewitt soon found himself two sets down.

Meanwhile, Roger Federer was at risk of making his earliest exit from a Grand Slam in six years. At one set-all and 5-1 down in the third set, Federer was in danger of making his earliest exit from a Grand Slam tournament since losing to Luis Horna in the first round here in 2003. Argentina's Jose Acasuso, who had lost the first set after spurning four set points, had a point for the third at 5-2, but to relief all round Federer took 12 of the last 15 games to win 7-6, 5-7, 7-6, 6-2 and keep alive his hopes of winning the only Grand Slam title that has eluded him.

"I had a standing ovation at the end, and that's very moving each time," Federer said afterwards. "I have a feeling I'm the grand favourite here in Paris, and that's very nice."

He added: "I'm not trying to seduce the crowd. I just try and play beautiful tennis. If they like it, great. If they don't like it, nothing I can do. I also think being a fair player is very important to me, and this is something people seem to like."

Acasuso, who had arrived here having won only once in the last three months, looked like a man who had been given the winning numbers for the lottery and then forgotten them. "I'm angry," the 26-year-old Argentine, ranked No 45 in the world, said. "Even though it was Federer, it was a near miss. I was so close to winning."

Federer said he was thrilled to win what he called "a fun match" - but it looked anything but enjoyable for the former world No 1, who made a succession of errors.

Third seed Andy Murray, who is a potential semi-final opponent for Nadal, moved into the fourth round at Roland Garros for the first time after opponent Janko Tipsarevic retired from their match with a hamstring injury. He plays Marin Cilic in round four.

Fourth seed Novak Djokovic wasted precious little time booking his place in the third round. The Serbian resumed in a strong position after his match against Sergiy Stakhovsky was stopped for bad light the previous night and won 6-3, 6-4, 6-1 and set up a meeting with Philipp Kohlschreiber.