TENNIS: World number one Rafael Nadal reached the third round of the Australian Open with a convincing 6-2 6-3 6-2 victory over Croatia's Roko Karanusic and then set his sights on lifting the trophy.
Nadal took just one hour and 37 minutes to see off his opponent on the Rod Laver Arena - his second successive straight-sets victory.
The Spaniard's form so far has suggested he can win his first Grand Slam title on a hardcourt, something Nadal feels he is more than capable of.
He said: "I think when you win in Toronto, you win in Olympics, I have Montreal, I have Madrid, I have Indian Wells on this kind of surface. When you have these tournaments playing against the best players of the world, why you can't win a Grand Slam on hardcourt?
"I'm trying to improve always on this surface. Hopefully this year I have a chance for a win here or for a win in the US Open."
Karanusic took the opening game of the match but Nadal battled back and broke serve in the fifth game to go 3-2 ahead before closing out the remainder of the set.
Nadal took 39 minutes to take the second set and then the 22-year-old broke Karanusic's serve in sixth game of final set and again in the eighth to win the set 6 2 and take the match.
Nadal was pleased with the win.
"It was a good result today," he reflected. "The other guy played very, I think, irregular.
"Sometimes he played well, sometimes he had some mistakes. So it was tough match for get the rhythm. But the result is good. I think I won without problems."
Up next is Tommy Haas after the German thrashed Italy's Flavio Cipolla 6-1 6-2 6-1.
Sixth seed Gilles Simon need four sets to see off home hope Chris Guccione, who succumbed after taking the opening set on a tie-break.
Fernando Verdasco looked in good nick as he crushed the 2001 runner-up Arnaud Clement for the loss of just four games, while fellow seed Fernando Gonzalez - the beaten finalist two years ago - was also a straight-sets winner.
Gael Monfils (12) did lose a set, but still came through against Stefan Koubek, while Jurgen Melzer saw off Andreas Beck, also in four sets. He could now face Andy Murray in the third round.
One seed to fall was Ivo Karlovic (25), who lost the battle of the big servers to fellow Croatian Mario Ancic in five sets.
In the women's singles, Serena Williams came out on top of a tricky encounter with Argentina's Gisela Dulko 6-3 7-5 to progress to the third round.
Second seed Williams saw off China's Yuan Meng in straight sets in the opening round and while she again took just two sets to see off her opponent on the Hisense Arena on Thursday she was made to work much harder.
Indeed, the three-time former champion had to save no less than six set points in the second set.
Williams was far from impressed by her performance and went straight to the practice courts afterwards.
"Today I was at like a D-minus at best," she said smiling. "That's pretty far away (from my best form). But it's good that I was able to win, too, when I wasn't playing my best. I definitely will try to do better."
Elena Dementieva improved on her patchy first-round display as she reached the last 32.
The Russian, seeded fourth, claimed a 6-4 6-1 win - her 12th successive victory in 2009 - over Iveta Benesova. She'll now face Australian Sam Stosur.
Dementieva's compatriot, Svetlana Kuznetsova, was also impressive as she cantered to a 6-2 6-2 victory against Tatjana Malek.
There was also a straight-sets win for Flavia Pennetta (12), but 14th seed Patty Schnyder crashed to a surprise 6-3 6-1 defeat to France's Virginie Razzano.
Victoria Azarenka (13) was on court for just a matter of minutes before opponent Tathiana Garbin retired due to injury.
Briton Jamie Murray and American partner Eric Butorac bowed out of the men's doubles.
Murray and Butorac were seeded 16th in Melbourne but went down 6-4 6-4 to the unseeded pair of Nicolas Lapentti and Tommy Robredo in the opening round.