Melbourne: Top seed Rafael Nadal had no problems with the heat as he stormed into the men’s singles fourth round of the Australian Open tennis tournament with a bludgeoning 6-1, 6-3, 6-1 defeat of Bosnia’s Damir Dzumhur here, Friday.
The heatwave had relented here by the time Nadal walked on Margaret Court Arena, but the Spaniard was on fire as he battered the 28th seed into submission. The sole blemish was a dropped service game early in the second set but it only briefly slowed his charge.
Nadal finished the job in 110 minutes to reach the last 16 here for the 11th time where he will face Argentina’s Diego Schwartzman, a 6-7(1-7), 6-2, 6-3, 6-3 winner over Ukrainian Andrey Dolgopolov.
“I was very, very focused,” Nadal said after the match. “I’m very happy with everything and to have another chance Sunday.”
The Spaniard used his trademark back court game to completely unsettle the Bosnian from the opening game of the match. He broke Dzumhur in the third game and then again the fifth to close out the first set in less than 30 minutes.
In the second set, Nadal lost his serve at the start, but it was only a matter of time, before he broke back. Two thunderous forehands down the line and a double fault by Dzumhur in the fourth game, helped Nadal restore parity. After Nadal had gone up by two sets to love, the third turned out to be a non-event with Dzumhur caving in meekly.
In another match, third seed Grigor Dimitrov survived a tricky test in fierce heat against feisty young Russian Andrey Rublev to reach the fourth round.
The 6-3, 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 victory looked comfortable enough for the 26-year-old but it was far from plain sailing on Rod Laver Arena against the 30th seed who knocked him out of last year’s US Open in straight sets.
Dimitrov, a semifinalist last year, was a set and a break to the good but errors began to creep into his game and he surrendered the initiative as Rublev broke twice to level the match and then moved a break ahead in the third set.
Bulgarian Dimitrov upped his game to avert the danger though and recovered to take the third set. After snatching the Rublev serve to take a 5-4 lead in the fourth, Dimitrov had to save a breakpoint before claiming victory when he raced forward to ram home a forehand winner.
Dimitrov’s next opponent will be local favourite Nick Kyrgios. The temperamental Australian won three tight tie-breakers against Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 7-6(7-5), 4-6, 7-6(8-6), 7-6(7-5) to advance. In fact, Tsonga had leads in all the three tie-breakers but blew those away with unforced errors.
Kyle Edmund joined Nadal and Dimitrov in the round of 16, overcoming the elements in a fighting 7-6(7-0), 3-6, 4-6, 6-0, 7-5 win over Nikoloz Basilashvili and will next play Italian Andreas Seppi who won a battle of the veterans against Croatia’s 38-year-old Ivo Karlovic in another five-set affair, 6-3, 7-6(7-4), 6-7(3-7), 6-7(5-7), 9-7.
At a glance
Rafa Nadal bt Damir Dzumhur 6-1, 6-3, 6-1
Grigor Dimitrov bt Andrey Rublev 6-3, 4-6, 6-4, 6-4
Kyle Edmund bt Nikoloz Basilashvili 7-6, 3-6, 4-6, 6-0, 7-5
Andreas Seppi bt Ivo Karlovic 6-3, 7-6, 6-7, 6-7, 9-7
Nick Kyrgios bt Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 7-6, 4-6, 7-6, 7-6
Agencies
