Vintage Nadal too hot in romp

Melbourne

Rafael Nadal stormed into the round of 16 at the Australian Open yesterday with a vintage performance as Grigor Dimitrov and Caroline Wozniacki kept their Grand Slam hopes alive on a hot draining day.

But French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko’s tournament is over, with the Latvian seventh seed crashing out in three sets to Estonian Annet Kontaveit.

Spanish world No 1 Nadal showed no mercy to 28th seed Damir Dzumhur on Margaret Court Arena, as he rediscovers his best form after ankle trouble.

The top seed raced through the match in just 1hr 50min, wasting as little energy as possible in the 6-1, 6-3, 6-1 rout.

“I was very focused,” Nadal said. “I’m happy to have another chance on Sunday.”

That chance will be against 24th-seed Argentine Diego Schwartzman for a place in the quarterfinals.

Third seed Dimitrov had plenty to prove after a huge second-round fright from a qualifier, who pushed him to five sets.

And the Bulgarian delivered in a testing 6-3, 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 win over Russian rising star Andrey Rublev as temperatures touched 40 deg.

He will next face Australian Nick Kyrgios who beat French veteran Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in four close and entertaining sets in a prime-time evening match.

Second seed Wozniacki has not impressed so far, but she put in a better performance to beat Dutch 30th seed Kiki Bertens 6-4, 6-3, finally getting over the line on her fourth match point.

It sets her up with a clash against 19th-seeded Slovak Magdalena Rybarikova.

Fourth seed Elina Svitolina also kept her title dreams alive by ending the hopes of young teenage pretender Marta Kostyuk.

At just 15, Kostyuk was the youngest third-round contestant since Martina Hingis in 1996. But she still has a lot to learn with fellow Ukrainian Svitolina handing out a 6-2, 6-2 lesson.

She now plays another qualifier – big-serving Czech Denisa Allertova who romped past Magda Linette 6-1, 6-4 – for a place in the quarterfinals tomorrow.

Kyle Edmund joined Nadal in the round of 16, overcoming the elements in a five-set win over Nikoloz Basilashvili. –

Picture: AFP GOING HOME. Latvia’s seventh seed Jelena Ostapenko (above) was sent packing in the third round of the Australian Open in Melbourne yesterday as she lost to Estonia’s Annet Kontaveit.