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With significant improvement still left in his game, Rafael Nadal is through to the third round of the Australian Open without dropping a set following Wednesday's 6-2, 6-3, 6-4 win over German qualifier Yannick Hanfmann.
The 20-time Grand Slam champion, playing just his second tournament since mid-August, did not need to move into top gear to get the job done against the World No. 126, who did use his heavy groundstrokes to win some skirmishes, without ever looking likely to win the larger battle.
“Having played him before at Roland Garros I knew that he is dangerous,” Nadal said after the two hour, 42-minute result. “His result against Thanasi [Kokkinakis] in the first round says that he is playing great and coming from the qualies he was used to the courts. He has big shots, a good serve and has a lot of potential. Today his level was much higher than his ranking says.”
Planning for his next match against Olympic silver medallist Karen Khachanov or Benjamin Bonzi, Nadal will look to improve his break point ratio (4/16 against Hanfmann) and eliminate some uncharacteristic unforced forehand errors. He is now 5-0 on the season after winning his 89th title at the Melbourne Summer Set, but is yet to be tested by a Top-50 opponent.
"As I said before the tournament, things are not going to be perfect, but every day that I spend on court, the chances to play better a higher," Nadal said later in his press conference. "Things that I can improve I have to improve. Winning today allows me to practice again tomorrow, to be ready for another match. After two matches it's the moment to make a step forward."
Hanfmann's aggressive game plan was to hit hard and flat through the court and to sneak into the net when he stretched the Spaniard wide into the court. When he could position himself close to the baseline, his heavy, clean ball striking resulted in several clean winners, with his crosscourt backhand to Nadal’s forehand proving effective at times.
Nadal, who has occupied a place in the Top 10 of the ATP Rankings for 852 consecutive weeks, countered by using his heavy topspin off both wings to keep the German pinned deep behind the baseline as much as he could. He also exploited the 30-year-old's mobility side to side and had success with his beloved Serve +1 pattern, helped by a first serve that was significantly faster than in 2021. Through the first two sets, Nadal was forced to hit a backhand as his first shot after serving just twice.
Hanfmann claimed his first Grand Slam match win in the first round Monday when he stunned Adelaide International 2 champion Thanasi Kokkinakis.
Nadal improved to 71-15 at the year's first major. Only Roger Federer (102) and Novak Djokovic (82) have more wins at Melbourne Park.
The Spaniard this fortnight is bidding to become the second player in the Open Era after Djokovic to win all majors at least twice. But the bigger milestone is a potential record-breaking 21st Grand Slam title to break the current three-way tie with Federer and Djokovic.
Last year Nadal reached the quarter-finals in Melbourne, falling to Stefanos Tsitsipas in five sets after winning the first two. That remains just the second time in his career that Nadal has lost a match after leading by two sets (also Fognini, 2015 US Open).
2015: Tokio
2016: Rio de Janeiro, Indian Wells, Waszyngton, Chengdu, WTF
2017: Doha, Sydney, Dubaj, Miami, Marrakesz, Estoril, s-Hertogenbosch
2018: Barcelona,Winston-Salem,Sztokholm, Paryż-Bercy,
2019: Dubaj, Miami, Monachium, Kitzbühel, St. Petersburg, WTF
2020: Adelaide, Rzym
2022: Adelaide 1, Australian Open, Rzym, Halle
2023: Indian Wells, Miami, Barcelona, US Open, WTF
2015: Kuala Lumpur
2016: Queens, Sankt Petersburg
2017: Waszyngton, Winston-Salem, US Open, Sankt Petersburg, WTF
2018: Doha, Miami, Hamburg,
2019: Eastbourne, US Open,
2020: RG, Sofia
2021: ATP Cup
2022: Stuttgart, Eastbourne, Winston-Salem, Florencja
2023: Montpellier
MTT (DEBEL) - Tytuły (7) / Finały (7)
Spoiler:
2019: RG, Cincinnati, Paryż-Bercy, WTF
2020: RG, US Open
2021: Rzym
2018: WTF
2019: Indian Wells, Madryt
2020: Australian Open
2021: Australian Open, RG, Paryż-Bercy
2015: Tokio
2016: Rio de Janeiro, Indian Wells, Waszyngton, Chengdu, WTF
2017: Doha, Sydney, Dubaj, Miami, Marrakesz, Estoril, s-Hertogenbosch
2018: Barcelona,Winston-Salem,Sztokholm, Paryż-Bercy,
2019: Dubaj, Miami, Monachium, Kitzbühel, St. Petersburg, WTF
2020: Adelaide, Rzym
2022: Adelaide 1, Australian Open, Rzym, Halle
2023: Indian Wells, Miami, Barcelona, US Open, WTF
2015: Kuala Lumpur
2016: Queens, Sankt Petersburg
2017: Waszyngton, Winston-Salem, US Open, Sankt Petersburg, WTF
2018: Doha, Miami, Hamburg,
2019: Eastbourne, US Open,
2020: RG, Sofia
2021: ATP Cup
2022: Stuttgart, Eastbourne, Winston-Salem, Florencja
2023: Montpellier
MTT (DEBEL) - Tytuły (7) / Finały (7)
Spoiler:
2019: RG, Cincinnati, Paryż-Bercy, WTF
2020: RG, US Open
2021: Rzym
2018: WTF
2019: Indian Wells, Madryt
2020: Australian Open
2021: Australian Open, RG, Paryż-Bercy
Rafael Nadal survived a third-set bombardment from Karen Khachanov Friday to maintain his ruthless start to the season, overcoming the 28th seed 6-3, 6-2, 3-6, 6-1 to reach the fourth round at the Australian Open for a staggering 15th time.
Prior to January, Nadal had not competed in a tour-level event since Washington in August due to a foot injury. But the sixth seed is playing as if he has never been away, with his victory over Khachanov extending his perfect 2022 record to 6-0.
The Spaniard, who captured his 89th tour-level title at the Melbourne Summer Set earlier this month, dropped only one point on serve in the opening set against Khachanov and recovered from losing just his second ever set against the Russian to eventually advance after two hours and 50 minutes on Rod Laver Arena.
Nadal is aiming to win a record-breaking 21st Grand Slam title in Melbourne, having lifted the Australian Open trophy in 2009. He fired 39 winners and committed 30 unforced errors to improve to 8-0 in his ATPHead2Head series against Khachanov.
In a brutal heavy-hitting performance, Nadal took time away from the Russian with his aggressive topspin ball striking in the first two sets, pulling Khachanov one way and then the other as he pinned the 25-year-old behind the baseline.
The 13-time Roland Garros champion, who broke Khachanov four times, looked on course for a routine win as they moved into the third set. But from 1-2, 40/0 in the set, Nadal lost serve for the first time in the match as Khachanov started to close the net to great effect. The Russian continued to unsettle the sixth seed with his powerful hitting and he gained a foothold in the clash by holding to love to seal the set.
All this did was fire up the Spaniard though, with Nadal breaking in stunning fashion at the start of the fourth set with a backhand pass down the line. The former World No. 1 let out a roar and punched the air in delight, before he raced to finish the line to advance.
The World No. 5 will next play 18th seed Aslan Karatsev or Frenchman Adrian Mannarino in the last 16. Only Roger Federer (18) has advanced to the fourth round at Melbourne Park more than Nadal.
Did You Know?
Nadal is attempting to become just the second man behind Novak Djokovic to win all four majors at least twice.
2015: Tokio
2016: Rio de Janeiro, Indian Wells, Waszyngton, Chengdu, WTF
2017: Doha, Sydney, Dubaj, Miami, Marrakesz, Estoril, s-Hertogenbosch
2018: Barcelona,Winston-Salem,Sztokholm, Paryż-Bercy,
2019: Dubaj, Miami, Monachium, Kitzbühel, St. Petersburg, WTF
2020: Adelaide, Rzym
2022: Adelaide 1, Australian Open, Rzym, Halle
2023: Indian Wells, Miami, Barcelona, US Open, WTF
2015: Kuala Lumpur
2016: Queens, Sankt Petersburg
2017: Waszyngton, Winston-Salem, US Open, Sankt Petersburg, WTF
2018: Doha, Miami, Hamburg,
2019: Eastbourne, US Open,
2020: RG, Sofia
2021: ATP Cup
2022: Stuttgart, Eastbourne, Winston-Salem, Florencja
2023: Montpellier
MTT (DEBEL) - Tytuły (7) / Finały (7)
Spoiler:
2019: RG, Cincinnati, Paryż-Bercy, WTF
2020: RG, US Open
2021: Rzym
2018: WTF
2019: Indian Wells, Madryt
2020: Australian Open
2021: Australian Open, RG, Paryż-Bercy