Murray, Nadal meet tall orders

MELBOURNE, Australia – Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray held off two of the tallest men and biggest servers in tennis today to set up a quarterfinal meeting at the Australian Open.

Defending champion Nadal had a 6-4, 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 win over 6-foot-10 Ivo Karlovic of Croatia, the tallest man on the tour.

In the previous match at Rod Laver Arena, No. 5 Murray overcame 6-foot-9 American John Isner 7-6 (4), 6-3, 6-2. Murray hasn’t dropped a set in four matches.

Over on Hisense Arena, Nadia Petrova advanced with another upset, beating third-ranked Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-3, 3-6, 6-1 to reach the quarters.

In the other section of Petrova’s half of the draw, Zheng Jie set another national mark by becoming the first Chinese player to reach the quarterfinals at Melbourne Park with a 7-6 (6), 6-4 victory over Alona Bondarenko.

Nadal, who beat Roger Federer in the final here last year to capture his first major on hard courts after four titles at the French and one at Wimbledon, said the strategy against Karlovic was just not to blink.

“Just be focused all the time, move the legs, because you going to have a lot of points only with one shot,” Nadal said.

Murray is into the Australian Open quarterfinals for the first time. He lost the U.S. Open final to Federer in 2008, his only trip to a Grand Slam final, and knows he’ll probably have to beat both Nadal and Federer to claim his first major.

The 22-year-old Scot rated Isner’s serve among the best in the game, so he was delighted to wear down the American after a crucial service break in the eighth game of the second set. He fended off break-point chances in the next game to serve out the set.

“It’s tough. I had my coach serving at me from the service line this morning to try to get used to it,” Murray said. “But once you get out there it’s kind of tricky.”

The loss was Isner’s first of the year, which started with his first career ATP title at Auckland.

No. 19 Petrova had a stunning 6-0, 6-1 win over U.S. Open champion Kim Clijsters in the third round. Her run to the quarterfinals equals her best run at the Australian Open. Her best run at a Grand Slam was to the French Open semifinals twice.

Petrova will meet the winner of the all-Belgian match later today between former No. 1 Justine Henin and Yanina Wickmayer, who reached the semifinals at the last U.S. Open.

Zheng is still a win away from equaling her best performance at a Grand Slam.

The 26-year-old Zheng made a stunning charge to the Wimbledon semifinals in 2008, becoming only the second wild-card entry and first Chinese player to reach the semis at a major.