If looks aren’t deceiving, Nadal well ahead of Federer

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MELBOURNE, Australia -- Top-seeded Rafael Nadal pummeled Chile’s Fernando Gonzalez, 6-3, 6-2, 6-4, on Monday to move into the Australian Open quarterfinals. Nadal hit 33 winners of varying angles and touch, fast and slow, on the lines, languid lobs, monstrous power shots. He had only 11 unforced errors, a testament to his precision and deadly calm.

The match took 1 hour 55 minutes and the feel of Nadal’s tennis is so different right now from that of second-seeded Roger Federer, who at this same time last year was considered almost unbeatable.

Federer moved heavily in his five-set, fourth-round escape from Tomas Berdych on Sunday. There sometimes was doubt in Federer’s strokes. At his best Federer plays as if he has no doubt where every shot will land. Now he plays sometimes as if he hopes the shots will go where his mind has planned. But his body can’t seem to keep up with his clever mind.

Nadal did have one criticism of his dismantling of Gonzalez. ‘Maybe the only thing today I could improve a little bit more for sure is the serve. I’m not 100 percent happy with my serve. But it wasn’t very bad.’

Gilles Simon, a late-blooming 24-year-old Frenchman, is Nadal’s next opponent. Simon will not be rooting for a rapid improvement in Nadal’s serve.

-- Diane Pucin