MELBOURNE (AFP) - Rafael Nadal and Andy Roddick powered into the third round of the Australian Open with straight set victories on Wednesday on their way to a potential quarter-final showdown.
Second seed Nadal crushed 88th-ranked Frenchman Florent Serra, 6-0, 6-2, 6-2 in just an hour and 34 minutes.
Roddick needed five match points and a bit more time to wear down the 54th-ranked German Michael Berrer 6-2, 6-2, 6-4 in one hour 58 minutes.
The big-serving American, a three semi-finalist here, will have a third round match against another German, Philipp Kohlschreiber, and is on track to meet Nadal in a blockbuster quarter-final.
Elsewhere, Russian fourth seed Nikolay Davydenko, who is at the centre of an investigation into a betting scandal following his defeat by Argentine Martin Vassallo Arguello in Poland last August, eased past Frenchman Nicolas Mahut 6-4, 6-0, 6-3.
French eighth seed Richard Gasquet was too good for Spaniard Feliciano Lopez 6-2, 6-1, 6-3.
American Mardy Fish knocked out Spanish 11th seed Tommy Robredo in straight sets, while athletic Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga followed up his upset over ninth British seed Andy Murray with a 6-4, 7-6 (7/4), 6-2 victory over American Sam Warburg.
It was an awesome performance from the world number two Nadal, who broke Serra's service a demoralising nine times and will next play French 28th seed Gilles Simon, who ended former finalist Rainer Schuettler's Australian Open.
Inevitably, questions at his post-match press conference centred on his pursuit of Federer, who dominates men's tennis and is poised for his 13th Grand Slam crown in Melbourne.
Under the ATP's rankings system Federer could lose his top ranking because as defending champion he has so many rankings points to defend here while Nadal, a quarter-finalist last year, has relatively few points carry-over.
"I have never won a Grand Slam outside of clay. I'd love to win any one of them," he said.
"I am fine right now if I win this tournament and don't be No.1, for sure."
Nadal looked in blinding form against the overwhelmed Serra, bombarding him with his rapier forehand and cashing in on the Frenchman's flood of 26 unforced errors.
His consummate victory followed his sterner straight sets opener on Monday against Serbian qualifier Viktor Troicki, who made him work much harder than Serra.
Roddick, in the bottom half of the men's draw and away from 12-time Grand Slam champion Roger Federer, is looking to do better than his best finish of three semi-final appearances here.
"He was trying to hit the ball hard around the court and it was a good workout ahead of my next match," he said after beating Berrer.
Watched by his coach and American great Jimmy Connors, Roddick came into the year's opening Grand Slam tournament having won the lead-up Kooyong Classic exhibition for the third straight time, beating Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis in last Saturday's final.
America's top player finished in the top-10 for the sixth straight season and led the United States to its first Davis Cup title since 1995 against Russia last month.
