MELBOURNE MATCH POINTS

RAFAEL NADAL had to apologise for his Mallorcan time-keeping but there was nothing sloppy about his tennis as he swept aside German Florian Mayer to reach the second round. After winning 6-3, 6-4, 6-4, the Spaniard came into his press conference staring at his watch. ‘I was checking how late I am,’ he said. ‘I’m always late. In Mallorca, there is a thing, only when we are going we say: “I am coming”. It is tough to be 100-per-cent on time on an island.’ Time may be running out for the 30-year-old to claim his 15th grand slam title, but Nadal remains a contender in the bottom half of the draw where he is due to meet Milos Raonic in the quarter-finals and Novak Djokovic in the semi-finals.

A FIRST marathon match and not the biggest surprise that Croatian servebot Ivo Karlovic was involved. He sent down 75 aces in beating Argentina’s Horacio Zeballos 6-7, 3-6, 7-5, 6-2, 22-20 in five hours and 15 minutes. Cue more discussion about introducing fifth-set tiebreaks.

AFTER her 6-4 6-3 win over Belinda Bencic, Serena Williams wore a T-shirt with the word Equality emblazoned across it: ‘With today being Martin Luther King Day, it’s important to spread the message of equality, which is something he talked about a lot and he tried to spread a lot, equality and rights for everyone,’ explained Williams, who nonetheless declined to comment on the prospect of Donald Trump assuming power on Friday.

NOTE the name of Reilly Opelka, the 6ft 11in teenager who is in the vanguard of a group of young Americans suggesting that good times are around the corner for the faded tennis superpower. He pushed 11th seed David Goffin all the way before losing 6-4, 4-6, 6-2, 4-6, 6-4.

GERMANY’S Tommy Haas is the now 38-year-old tournament director of the Masters event in Indian Wells, but is still trying to play, despite having had 15 different surgeries. He was forced to retire, not for the first time, with a shoulder injury when trailing Frenchman Benoit Paire 7-6 6-4.