Rafa back in groove

Melbourne, January 17 

Rafa Nadal powered into the third round of the Australian Open in ominous form following his straight-set victory over Leonardo Mayer today. Spain’s world No. 1 only dropped serve once as he reeled off a 6-3 6-4 7-6(4) victory over the 52nd-ranked Argentine in 2 hours 38 minutes. Nadal will face Bosnia-Herzegovina’s 28th seed Damir Dzumhur in the third round. 

It was a powerful performance from the 16-time Grand Slam champion, who conceded only 10 unforced errors, stacked up against his 40 winners. Mayer played well and stuck to his guns, breaking serve for the only time in the match as Nadal was serving out to win, forcing the third set into a tiebreaker.

“It was an important victory for me, he’s a tough opponent,” Nadal said. “Leonardo is a player with big potential, he hits the ball so strong and you could see in the last couple of games how tough he was. I am happy to be in the third round after being out of competition for a while, a second victory in a row is very important to me.” — AFP

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Key results 

Women: Luksika Kumkhum (THA) bt Belinda Bencic (SUI) 6-1 6-3; Elise Mertens (BEL) bt 23-Daria Gavrilova (AUS) 7-5 6-3; Alize Cornet (FRA) bt 12-Julia Goerges (GER) 6-4 6-3; 7-Jelena Ostapenko (LAT) bt Ying-Ying Duan (CHN) 6-3 3-6 6-4

Men: 10-Pablo Carreno Busta (ESP) bt Gilles Simon (FRA) 6-2 (retired); 6-Marin Cilic (CRO) bt Joao Sousa (POR) 6-1 7-5 6-2; 30-Andrey Rublev (RUS) bt Marcos Baghdatis (CYP) 6-4 6-7(5) 6-4 6-2; 17-Nick Kyrgios (AUS) bt Viktor Troicki (SRB) 7-5 6-4 7-6(2)

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Survivors

Wozniacki’s comeback 

World No. 2 Caroline Wozniacki roared back from 1-5 down in the final set, saving two match points, to beat Croatian Jana Fett 3-6 6-2 7-5. “I’m very proud of the way I came back. I just tried to mentally stay focused. It was very hard, and she was playing well,” Wozniacki said. “All of a sudden seeing myself down, almost out of the tournament, I started playing better and started playing the tennis that I wanted to play.”

Tsonga battles through 

Former Australian Open finalist Jo-Wilfried Tsonga came back from 2-5 down in the final set to beat Canadian teenager Denis Shapovalov 3-6 6-3 1-6 7-6(4) 7-5 after three hours and 37 minutes of play.

Dimitrov digs deep

World No. 3 Grigor Dimitrov held his nerve in a fiercely-contested five-set thriller against American 186th-ranked qualifier Mackenzie McDonald to win 4-6 6-2 6-4 0-6 8-6 and set up a third round clash against Russian Andrey Rublev. It’s just a hard day, I’m admitting it, I couldn’t even hide it,” the 26-year-old said. “I landed on the good side of things today. In past years maybe I would have lost that match.”

Svitolina survives scare

Fourth seed Elina Svitolina came from a set down to beat Czech Katerina Siniakova 4-6 6-2 6-1 and book a spot in the third round. Ukrainian Svitolina will next face compatriot Marta Kostyuk.

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Youngest and oldest

38-year-old giant

Croatia’s Ivo Karlovic became the oldest man to reach the third round of the Australian Open for 40 years when he edged Japan’s Yuichi Sugita in five sets in searing heat. Old warrior Karlovic, 39 next month, served down 53 aces as he came through 7-6(3) 6-7(3) 7-5 4-6 12-10 in four hours, 33 minutes — the longest match in the tournament so far. He will be the oldest player to contest in Round 3 since Ken Rosewall, aged 44, in 1978 when the draw was only 64. “I’m happy but also very tired,” the 6ft 9in Karlovic said.

Young and fearless 

Ukraine’s 15-year-old Marta Kostyuk beat Australian wildcard Olivia Rogowska 6-3 7-5 to become the youngest player to reach a Grand Slam third round since Mirjana Lucic-Baroni at the 1997 US Open. “I remember being at that age. No pressure. Second round, creating history and all that,” the 26-year-old Rogowska said. “She (Kostyuk) came out firing so credit to her. She’s going to be a really good player.”