Nadal, Wozniacki enter third round
The muscular Nadal threw Mayer like a rag-doll around the Rod Laver Arena court for two hours and 38 minutes, pounding the world No. 52 with a barrage of top-spin bombs
MELBOURNE: Top seed Rafael Nadal continued his marauding path through the Australian Open, hammering Argentine Leonardo Mayer 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 (4) to reach the third round on Wednesday.
Channelling his early years with a sleeveless shirt, the muscular Mallorcan threw Mayer like a ragdoll around the Rod Laver Arena court for two hours and 38 minutes, pounding the world No. 52 with a barrage of top-spin bombs.
A masterful performance was blighted only by a late wobble, when Nadal was broken serving for the match at 5-4 in the decider.
But the Spaniard found an extra gear in the tiebreak, wrapping up the match with a monster serve to the corner that Mayer battled to get a racket to. Nadal’s bid for a 17th Grand Slam title continues against Bosnian 28th seed Damir Dzumhur.
Meanwhile, second seed Caroline Wozniacki saved two match points as she battled back from 5-1 down in the deciding set to beat Melbourne Park debutante Jana Fett 3-6, 6-2, 7-5 in the second round.
Former world No. 1 Wozniacki was simply outplayed by the Croatian for large parts of the match but rallied when the 21-year-old blinked and knocked off six straight games on the trot avert the upset and claim her place in the third round.
“That was crazy, I don’t know how I got back into the match,” said a relieved Wozniacki. “I’m very proud of the way I came back. It was definitely very difficult. Definitely wasn’t my best match, especially in the beginning. All of a sudden seeing myself down, almost out of the tournament, I started playing better and started really playing the tennis that I wanted to play.” More reports @ timesofoman.com/sports