Top seed Rafael Nadal stormed into the fourth round of the Australian Open with a bludgeoning 6-1 6-3 6-1 defeat of Bosnia’s Damir Dzumhur on Friday.
Melbourne’s heat wave had relented by the time the 31-year-old 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.
“I am in the fourth round. That’s because I am doing the right things. Let’s see how far I can go,” Nadal, beaten in the final by Roger Federer last year, told reporters.
Nadal arrived in Australia with question marks over the state of his knees after he was forced to withdraw mid-tournament from the ATP Finals in November.
Yet, back in the kind of sleeveless top in which he launched his spectacular assault on the Grand Slams in 2005, doubts about Nadal’s title prospects have quickly been cast aside.
“I needed hours on court, hours of practice, hours of playing sets with different players,” Nadal said of his build-up to the year’s first Grand Slam, where he has wielded his trusty forehand like a lethal weapon.
He added: “I think I did a good preparation. I feel I‘m playing well.”
The 25-year-old from Sarajevo had actually walked off court a winner against Nadal in 2016 when the Mallorcan retired from their match at the Miami Masters with an illness.
This time it was Dzumhur who might have sought a quick way out after being allowed two points in the first four games as Nadal started like a scorching wind.
It was the sort of wind which had blown through Melbourne Park earlier in the day.
Nadal was 5-0 up in no time before Dzumhur managed to hold serve, prompting a sympathetic cheer from the crowd.
However, Argentina’s 24th seeded Diego Schwartzman, who Nadal plays next, might prove a tougher obstacle than Dzumhur.
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