Nadal admits it was tough to beat unseeded Tomic

World No 1 Rafael Nadal admits it was tough to beat unseeded Aussie Tomic

World No 1 Rafael Nadal admits it was tough to beat unseeded Aussie Tomic

World No 1 Rafael Nadal progressed to the fourth round at the Australian Open as expected but Australian teen Bernard Tomic announced himself as a player of the future on Saturday.

Spain's Rafael Nadal serves in his third round match against Australia's Bernard Tomic during the Australian Open at Melbourne Park on Saturday. Pic/Getty Images

Nadal, bidding for a fourth straight major title to complete a non-calendar year Grand Slam, carved out a 6-2, 7-5, 6-3 win but it took him 2hr 30min to finally subdue the 199-ranked youngster in a far from one-sided contest.

Nadal, who applauded Tomic from the court, said the young Australian had the ability to become a future rival.

"He's the kind of player who is very difficult to play against. His style of game is not easy to play," Nadal said.

"Congratulations to him, every year he is improving and he has a big chance to be in the top positions.

"He makes you play bad and it was difficult to move him off the baseline. I had to go to the net more because I didn't have the shots from the baseline to destroy him."

Tomic, at 18, is the youngest man to reach the Australian Open third round since Nadal made it through to the same stage in 2004 aged 17 years 243 days.

But he was far from intimidated by playing the nine-time Grand Slam champion in front of a capacity home crowd at Rod Laver Arena and showcased the talent that could potentially make him a future top-line player.

He out-hit Nadal 39 winners to 32 and finished only 16 points short of Nadal, 108 to 92. "The experience that I had, it was great today," Tomic said. "I played really good in that second set, felt really good, but overall the way I played I'm happy with where my level was and where I need to improve."