Rafael Nadal wins in Melbourne

The Spaniard Rafael Nadal defeated the German qualifier Yannick Hanfman with 6: 2, 6: 3, 6: 4 and qualified for the third round of the Australian Open.

Nadal is chasing his 21st Grand Slam title. He is the last former champion of the race to remain in the men's circuit.

The Spaniard, who triumphed in 2009 in Melbourne, did not bother much against the 30-year-old Hanfman and tried his serve four times in the match.


Rafael Nadal needed five match points before he could succeed. Now the sixth place will meet the winner of the match between the Russian Karen Khachanov and Benjamin Bonzi from France.

"I know him from before, I played against something in the first round of Roland Garros. I knew he was a dangerous opponent," Nadal said after the match.

"I think that today the level of tennis he showed was much higher than his ranking," added the Spaniard on the occasion of Hanfman.

Last year, Nadal reached the quarterfinals in Melbourne, where he lost to Stefanos Tsitsipas in five sets after winning the first two. This is only the second time in his career that Rafa has lost a game after leading by two sets.

In other matches of the second round, the Serbian Miomir Ketsmanovic, who had to play with his compatriot Novak Djokovic at the start, achieved a second success, beating the American Tommy Paul with 7: 6 (7), 7: 5, 7: 6 (8), and Riley Opelka from the USA defeated Dominique Koepfer from Germany with 6: 4, 6: 4, 7: 6 (4).

The Spaniard Pablo Carenho Busta defeated the Dutchman Talon Grikspor with 6: 3, 6: 7 (6), 7: 6 (3), 3: 6, 6: 4, and Carlos Alcaras from Spain defeated the Serbian Dusan Lajovic with 6: 2 , 6: 1, 7: 5. The Italian Lorenzo Sonego beat the German Oscar Otte with 2: 6, 6: 2, 6: 3, 6: 1.