MELBOURNE, Jan 19: Rafael Nadal put on a clinical performance to ease past German qualifier Yannick Hanfmann 6-2, 6-3, 6-4 and reach the third round of the Australian Open on Wednesday as the Spaniard remained on course for a men's record 21st Grand Slam title.
The only former champion left in the men's draw at Melbourne Park, Nadal is tied on 20 majors with Swiss Roger Federer and world number one Novak Djokovic, who are both absent from the tournament.
The 2009 champion's only previous meeting with the 126th-ranked Hanfmann came on the Roland Garros clay in 2019 when Nadal lost just six games en route to a straight-sets victory.
The 30-year-old German did slightly better on a windy day at the Rod Laver Arena but it was not enough to trouble Nadal, who hit 30 winners and broke his opponent's serve four times in the match while saving both breakpoints he faced.
Nadal needed five match points before sealing victory when Hanfmann sent a forehand long. The sixth seed will next meet either Russian Karen Khachanov or Benjamin Bonzi of France for a place in the fourth round.
Defending champion Naomi Osaka overcame a second-set blip to beat American Madison Brengle 6-0, 6-4 and reach the third round, staying on course for a potential fourth-round clash with world number one Ash Barty.
The Japanese 24-year-old, who also won the Melbourne Park title in 2019, will next meet 60th-ranked American Amanda Anisimova with a mouthwatering clash against Australian Barty potentially waiting in the round of 16.
Brengle won just nine points in the first set as an aggressive Osaka served superbly, facing no breakpoints, and returned strong to breeze through the set in just 20 minutes.
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.
But the two-time US Open winner soon regained control and sealed the win after 65 minutes on her first match point with a second break of serve in the set.
Ash Barty eased into the third round of the Australian Open with the minimum of fuss, overwhelming Italian qualifier Lucia Bronzetti 6-1, 6-1 on Rod Laver Arena.
The top seed hammered 11 winners to wrap up the first set in 25 minutes and was equally dominant in the second, sealing the victory in under an hour when her opponent netted a backhand.
Barty will face another Italian, Camila Giorgi, in the next round. The No.30 seed sealed a 6-2, 7-6(2) win over Tereza Martincova of the Czech Republic to reach the third round in Australia for the third time. She's never reached the fourth round.
Paula Badosa of Spain and two-time champion Victoria Azarenka of Belarus scored swift victories in the second round, with the latter booking a third-round clash with Elina Svitolina of Ukraine.
Badosa cruised past Italian qualifier Martina Trevisan 6-0, 6-3 in an hour and 11 minutes. The Spaniard is on a seven-match winning streak, having claimed her third career WTA singles title last week in Sydney.
Badosa will next face Ukrainian teenager Marta Kostyuk in the third round. The 19-year-old beat No.32 seed Sara Sorribes Tormo of Spain 7-6(5), 6-3 in under two hours.
No.24 seed Azarenka, who won the Australian Open in 2012 and 2013, stormed past Jil Teichmann of Switzerland 6-1, 6-2. The former world No.1 is into the third round in Melbourne for the 11th time, but it is her first trip this far since her quarterfinal run in 2016.
Next Gen ATP Finals champion Carlos Alcaraz moved into the third round with a 6-2, 6-1, 7-5 demolition of seasoned Serb Dusan Lajovic at the 1573 Arena, setting up a mouthwatering clash with seventh seed Matteo Berrettini.
In a sport dominated in recent years by thirty-somethings like Nadal and Novak Djokovic, Alcaraz is planting the Gen Z flag and having older, would-be Grand Slam contenders looking nervously over their shoulders.
A 141st-ranked qualifier at last year's Australian Open, Alcaraz has come a long way in a hurry, his 2021 season laden with impressive milestones.
Now seeded 31st at Melbourne Park, he is the youngest seed at a Grand Slam since Michael Chang at the 1990 US Open.
His third round clash against Italian Berrettini will be new territory for the Spaniard in Melbourne, having fallen in the second round on debut last year.
Seventh seed and last year's Wimbledon finalist, Italy's Berrettini, demonstrated his winning mentality, overcoming American wild card Stefan Kozlov 6-1, 4-6, 6-4, 6-1 in two hours and 38 minutes.
Madison Keys stormed into the third round with a 6-2, 7-5 win over Jaqueline Cristian as the American continued her resurgence after a year in which she sank into a 'dark pit of despair' and her ranking plummeted.
The American ran away with the opening set in 31 minutes and broke unseeded Romanian Cristian for a 6-5 lead in the next to seal the win that set up a clash with Wang Qiang after the Chinese player beat Alison Van Uytvanck 2-6, 7-6(5), 6-3.
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