Top seed Rafa Nadal continued his relentless progress through the Australian Open draw yesterday, muscling his way into the third round with a commanding 6-3 7-6(4) 6-1 victory over Argentine Federico Delbonis.
The Spaniard, hunting for a second Australian Open title 11 years after his first, has now lost only three sets in his last nine matches at Melbourne Park, all in his defeat to Novak Djokovic in last year’s final.
World number 76 Delbonis never looked like adding to that tally in the two and a half hour contest on Rod Laver Arena, particularly as he was unable to muster up as much as a single break point against the 19-times Grand Slam champion.
The world number one was a little profligate with his breakpoints — converting only three of 20 — but still comfortably moved through to a meeting with compatriot Pablo Carreno Busta.
Meanwhile, Nick Kyrgios progressed after beating Gilles Simon, with both players mimicking Nadal’s service routine.
Kyrgios has previously criticised Nadal for the time he takes between points and both he and Simon copied the Spaniard’s routine after they were given time violations. The two could meet in the fourth round after Kyrgios won 6-2 6-4 4-6 7-5.
The Australian has previously described Nadal as ‘super salty’. Nadal was irritated when Kyrgios served underarm in their meeting in Acapulco last year and has previously said the 24-year-old “lacks respect”.
World number one Nadal has a 4-3 head-to-head lead over Kyrgios, but the Australian leads 2-1 on hard courts.
Kyrgios, the 23rd seed, said he was not thinking about the rest of the tournament or who he could meet in future rounds.
The Australian appeared on course for a swift victory, breaking his 61st-ranked opponent at the start of each set and leading 4-2 in the third. However, Simon hit back to win four games in a row before Kyrgios, lifted by the packed crowd, found the decisive break late in the fourth set.
“I could have gone to a very dark place in the fourth set but I put it away,” Kyrgios said. “I definitely lost my way a little bit. It would have been very interesting if it went to a fifth set.”
Kyrgios hit 28 aces against Simon and will donate A$200 for each one to the bushfire appeal. Legendary former player John McEnroe has also said he will contribute A$1,000 to the appeal for each set Kyrgios wins in the tournament. Kyrgios will face either Russian 16th seed Karen Khachanov or Sweden’s Mikael Ymer next.
