Vika and Rafa assert

Yesterday I watched my selection for the women's title, Victoria Azarenka dismantle Italian Roberta Vinci.  The Belarusian was in fine touch, her power and consistency that had been her trade marks coming in to the tournament very much to the fore.  Little that Vinci could do but smile grit the teeth and accept a rather worthwhile cheque for three matches.  Set one to Azarenka clinically 6-3 and once achieving the break in the second the resistance was no more - the Italian job complete.  6-3 6-2

Similarly Rafael Nadal needed to bring only a portion of his arsenal to Court Philippe Chatrier in order to counter Croatia's Antonio Veic.  Veic stunned Paris with his win over veteran Nikolay  Davydenko but no more stunning to be done here today save for some shots here and there for the highlight reel.

Rafa appeared two or three gears below his best, but enough to push some blistering groundstrokes past the Croatian and remind everyone present just what the tennis pecking order is.  Today Nadal was doing the ordering.  6-1 the first set.

Following an expected service break in the second set,  Veic contributed his best moments to the match when he actually broke Nadal back and leveled the set.  A slightly irritated champion, Nadal like a wounded Spanish bull, reacted as one would and dealt with the problem accordingly.

Early finish for the Saturday session seemed more likely as the relentless Spaniard carved his way through the rest of set 2 and then the third  in even quicker fashion.  More unforced errors than acceptable against higher quality opposition but time to fix that. Nadal's ability to hit powerfully from both wings and his speed around the court is fascinating to watch on screen,  but far more impressive when seen live, and this from a guy not tested to his limits. 6-1 6-3 6-0.