Can anyone stop Rafael Nadal?

That question has been on people’s minds ever since Nadal struck his first ball against Christophe Rochus in the first round of the Australian Open. And that question only grows louder and louder by the day. Following a dismantling of Roko Karanusic and a three-set blowout of Tommy Haas in which Nadal fired 53 winners to just unforced errors, Nadal was in rare form once again against Fernando Gonalez in the fourth round of the Australian Open on Monday afternoon. Of course, his 6-3, 6-2, 6-4 domination of Gonzalez was not at all unexpected after Gonzalez’s marathon 3-6, 3-6, 7-6(10), 6-2, 12-10 victory over Richard Gasquet wo days earlier.

But domination it was. The No. 1 player in the world won 12 of 13 points in the first three games of the match, holding serve twice and breaking Gonzalez at love. The mercurial Chilean made a brief charge to get back on serve at 2-3, but Nadal broke back immediately for 4-2 and refused to surrender the momentum a second time. Nadal served out the set for 6-3 and concluded the opening frame of play with stats that are incredible, yet becoming routine by his standards: 15 winners and four unforced errors.

The 2009 Australian Open’s No. 1 seed seized an even bigger advantage by breaking his opponent right away in set two. Gonzalez simply had no answer for that, and he let the set get away from him in 38 minutes. Nadal committed just two unforced errors in eight games of the second, while sending  11 winners past his opponent. He also dropped a mere three points in four service games.

With nothing to lose down two sets to love, Gonzalez came out in the third set swinging away on almost every shot. For three games, it paid off. Gonzalez won the first seven points of the set, holding serve and taking a 0-40 advantage on Nadal’s service game. The Spaniard saved three straight break points, but Gonzalez ended up breaking when his opponent dumped a drop-shot into the net. Gonzalez consolidated the break for a 3-0 lead before Nadal restored order to the afternoon’s developments. After a convincing hold, he broke the No. 13 seed at love to get back on serve. Having his momentary hot streak withstood by the reigning French Open, Wimbledon, and Olympic champion, Gonzalez lost control and allowed Nadal–with yet another stunning forehand at 15-40–to break at 3-3. Two easy holds by Nadal later, and the top seed was back in the Australian Open quarterfinals for a third time.

Nadal finished with 33 winners to only 11 unforced errors. He also fired four aces without a single double-fault.

The Spaniard says he is happy with his level of play, and why not! “Probably I am playing a little bit better than last year, I think,” explained Nadal, who lost to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the semifinals of the 2008 Australian Open. “I am not saying I gonna be in the final or I gonna be in semifinals. I think the feeling is a little bit better. But in the end the important thing is the result, no?”
In the quarterfinals Nadal will meet Gilles Simon, who reached his first career Grand Slam quarterfinal when Gael Monfils retired from their fourth-round match on Monday afternoon. Simon led 6-4, 2-6, 6-1 when Monfils retired just minutes into the fourth set with a wrist injury.

For a while, however, it looked like this would be the grueling encounter that it was made out to be, and the first set can only be described as bizarre. Monfils faced at least one break point in all five of his service games, but he managed to hold in three of those five games. Serving at 1-2 and down break point, Monfils finished a 45-ball rally–in which both players were hitting almost everything without any pace–with a backhand passing shot. He eventually held for 2-2 and then broke his opponent for an early advantage. Simon, however, benefited from a net-cord on break point in the very next game and immediately got back on level terms. The No. 6 seed and No. 8 player in the world broke serve again for 5-3, winning his fourth consecutive game.

On the first point of Simon’s attempt to serve out the set, Monfils hit a very short return and even though it landed in the court, he just walked over to the other side of the court as Simon put away a forehand. Despite the lack of an effort, Monfils actually turned things around in that same game to break serve and stay alive in the set. Then with Monfils serving at 4-5, fireworks and gunshots for Australia Day were making too much noise and briefly interrupted play. During the break, the two friends exchanged plenty of laughs with both the chair umpire and the crowd, not to mention a few practice shots at the net as well. Finally, after plenty of strange developments both on the court and outside the stadium, Simon broke for a third time to take the opening frame of play 6-4.

Monfils turned things around immediately in the second as Simon sprayed some wild errors to surrender a quick break. The No. 12 seed surged to 4-0 lead and did not drop serve once in set two, easing through 6-2 to level the match.

Simon, however, was just as dominant in the third as Monfils had been in the second. He closed out the third 6-1 and his opponent, struggling physically with both leg and wrist problems, did not even last a full game in the fourth.

“You never want to win like this,” Simon admitted after the match. “It’s already strange when it’s another player, but when it’s a friend like Gael it’s more difficult.”

Simon and Nadal have met on three previous occasions and the world No. 1 leads the head-to-head series two matches to one. The Frenchman, however, won his most recent meeting with Nadal at last season’s Masters Series Madrid, pulling off the upset in a third-set tiebreaker.

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