RAFAEL Nadal ramped up his march towards a men’s record 21st Grand Slam crown but needed five match points to put away a tenacious qualifier and reach the third round.
With defending champion Novak Djokovic deported on the eve of the season’s first Grand Slam, the men’s draw has opened up for Spanish veteran Nadal.
The 20-time Slam winner, who recently won his first tournament after five months out battling a foot injury, was never troubled by Yannick Hanfmann until the end of the third set.
Down 3-5, 0-40, the German world number 126 fought back to extend the contest and saved two more match points before finally succumbing 6-2, 6-3, 6-4 in hot conditions on Rod Laver Arena.
Next up for the 35-year-old Nadal is either Russian 28th seed Karen Khachanov or Frenchman Benjamin Bonzi.
Nadal, the sixth seed, could face third seed Alexander Zverev in the quarter-finals but he is refusing to look that far ahead.
“I don’t know, I am in the third round, I need to win very tough matches to be there,” he said.
“I never think that far. You can imagine now less than ever, no?” he added, an apparent nod to his recent injury struggles. Nadal also had Covid last month.
Seventh seed Matteo Berrettini, who endured frequent toilet trips in a gutsy four-set win on Monday, defeated American Stefan Kozlov and plays teenage 31st seed Carlos Alcaraz.
Also through, in five sets over Korean Kwon Soon-woo, was Canadian 14th seed Denis Shapovalov.
Women’s singles defending champion Naomi Osaka overcame a second-set blip to beat the world No.54 Madison Brengle of the United States 6-0 6-4 and reach the third round of the Australian Open, staying on course for a potential fourth-round clash with world No.1 and Ashleigh Barty.
The Japanese 24-year-old, who also won the women’s singles title in 2019, will next meet the American 20-year-old Amanda Anisimova, ranked 60th, who beat Olympic gold medallist Belinda Bencic 6-2, 7-5 – with a mouthwatering clash against Australian Barty potentially waiting in the round of 16.
Brengle won merely nine points in the first set as an aggressive Osaka served superbly, facing no breakpoints, and returned strongly to breeze through the set in just 20 minutes.
“I returned pretty well, it’s not my usual stat but I’ve been working on it during the off-season,” Osaka said in her brief post-match chat with Jim Courier.
The 54th-ranked Brengle, 31, had a big smile as the Rod Laver Arena crowd cheered her first service game win at the start of the second set as Osaka’s game dipped.
It triggered an immediate response from Osaka, who recovered the break immediately and finished off by winning the last nine points of the match, sealing the win after 65 minutes on her first match point with a second break of serve in the set.
Women’s top seed Barty took a step closer to a potential fourth-round showdown with Osaka with a second flawless display at the Australian Open on Wednesday.
The impressive Barty, chasing a first title at her home Slam, barely broke sweat as she breezed past Italian qualifier Lucia Bronzetti 6-1, 6-1 in just 52 minutes on Rod Laver Arena.
The ultra-consistent Barty, who won the singles and doubles titles at a lead-up tournament in Adelaide, hasn’t dropped her serve for 48 straight games over five matches this year.
Barty will have a much tougher task in the third round on Friday against seasoned Italian 30th seed Camila Giorgi, who beat Czech Tereza Martincova 6-2, 7-6 (7/2).
In-form eighth seed Paula Badosa, who won the Sydney warm-up tournament, also breezed through against an Italian qualifier, Martina Trevisan, 6-0, 6-3.
It was Badosa’s seventh match in 10 days but the Spaniard said she was holding up well.
AFP
