Australian Open 2011 Tennis Results, Day 4: Rafael Nadal, Andy Murray, Other High Seeds Dominate Men’s Draw

Scores and highlights from Day 4 of the Australian Open 2011. First up: Second-round play from the men’s draw.
• No. 1 Rafael Nadal def. Ryan Sweeting, 6-2 6-1 6-1.
Still not sold on the Nadal haters’ bandwagon after beholding his hair and pants? Well now he’s beating Americans. Next victim for the buzzsaw: Aussie Bernard Tomic, who also has unfortunate hair.
• No. 4 Robin Söderling def. Gilles Muller, 6-3 7-6 (7-1) 6-1.
Down goes the second contender named Gilles to threaten a high seed in as many days. Everyone’s favorite grizzled Swede moves on to Jan Hernych of the Czech Republic in Round 3.
• No. 5 Andy Murray def. Illya Marchenko, 6-1 6-3 6-3.
The rare late-night match with a high seed doesn’t draw out. Murray draws Spain’s Guillermo Garcia-Lopez in the third.
• No. 7 David Ferrer def. Michael Russell, 6-0 6-1 7-5.
With this loss, the only Americans remaining in the men’s draw are Roddick and Isner. Next up for Ferrer: Lithuania’s Richard Berankis.
• No. 10 Mikhail Youzhny def. Blaz Kavcic, 6-3 6-1 5-7 4-6 6-1.
Youzhny follows up a strong run to the semis at the U.S. Open by ... being taken to five sets by a player who’s barely cracked the top 100! Quick, somebody find out if he has a hot wife who’s distracting him from The Game. In any case, he advances to take on Canada’s Milos Raonic.
• No. 13 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga def. Andreas Seppi, 6-3 7-6 (7-1) 7-6 (7-5).
The most grueling match of the day that didn’t go to five sets.
Tsonga faces Ukrainian Alexandr Dogopolov in Round 3.
• Richard Berankis def. No. 27 David Nalbandian, 6-1 6-0 2-0 (Ret.)
He knocked off Lleyton Hewitt, but Nalbandian was forced to retire in the third set with an undisclosed illness, and still looked gassed before that. Hewitt’s Revenge, we call it. Berankis, as mentioned above, plays No. 7 Ferrer next.
• No. 20 John Isner def. Radek Stepanek, 4-6 6-4 6-2 6-1.
Excellent work by a young buck knocking off a guy with Stepanek’s seasoning. U-S-A! U-S-A! U-S-awww, man, he’s got Marin Cilic next. Good luck with that, kiddo. (U-S-A!)
• No. 21 Marcos Baghdatis def. Juan Martin Del Potro, 6-1 6-3 4-6 6-3.
The last match of Day 4 looked, late in the fourth set, like it might be turning, but the recently un-retired Del Potro isn’t back to top form just yet. Baghdatis advances to take on Austria’s Jurgen Melzer.
Stay tuned to this StoryStream for more scores and highlights from Day 4 of the 2011 Australian Open.