( dpa )- Juan Carlos Ferrero brought back memories of his glory days at the top of the game with a 6-1, 6-2, 6 -3 upset of Argentine David Nalbandian in a delayed third-round match on Sunday at the Australian Open.
The Spaniard who holds a Roland Garros title and briefly stood world number one, claimed his third consecutive victory over the tenth seed.
"I'm playing good tennis since two months," said Ferrero , losing finalist a week ago at Auckland. "I practised so hard in December. Last week I played good. The final (which he lost to German Philip Kohlschreiber ) gave me a lot of confidence to came here and try to play at the same level."
Ferrero fired a dozen aces and 32 winner as he beat the burly Nalbandian , who came to the Grand Slam with no preparation after tweaking his back last week.
The Spaniard will next face compatriot and fifth seed David Ferrer , a winner over veteran American Vince Spadea 6-3, 6-3, 6-2.
After Saturday's rain which prevented play on outside courts at Melbourne park, women also began getting third-round matches caught up.
Ninth seed Daniela Hantuchova was the fist woman through on the day, defeating Spain's Virginia Ruano Pascual 6-2, 6-3.
Russian 14th seed Nadia Petrova out out countrywoman Ekaterina Makarova 6-1, 7-6 (10-8) while Poland's Marta Domachowska , who trains at Ferrero's academy in Spain,reached the fourth round over China's Li Na 2-6, 6-2, 6-4