Nadal confidently continues the hunt for the 21st Grand Slam

This is the 34th time the 15-year-old has reached the third round of the Australian Open. Nadal has only won the title there in 2009. If he triumphs this year, he would be the professional with the most Grand Slam victories among men. So far, Nadal and Roger Federer, who is missing this year, have each won 20 majors. Mmoh, who was born in Saudi Arabia, contributed to an at times entertaining game on the well-filled Center Court, but he was unable to seriously test Nadal. After less than two hours, the Mallorcan had completed his duty and his back didn't seem to be causing him any major problems. “I had a good feeling,” said Nadal, who had prepared for his opponent with YouTube videos. Mmoh had secured his place in the main draw in the qualification in Doha in mid-January, but had to go into quarantine after entering Australia after positive corona cases on his flight. Nadal didn't let a female fan bother him during his confident victory. Those apparently no longer completely sober lady first shouted in between, then showed the middle finger – and was finally taken out of the Rod Laver Arena. “I didn’t know her, and to be honest I don’t want to get to know her either,” smiled Nadal in the winner’s interview on the court. He had already reacted in a relaxed manner during the game, laughed and juggled the tennis ball with his foot a bit. Shortly before Nadal, who is now playing against the Briton Cameron Norrie, Daniil Medvedev had finished his work day. The Russian won on his 25th birthday against Roberto Carballes Baena 6:2,7:5,6:1. For Medvedev it was the 16th victory in a row. He last lost a game in Vienna at the end of October, and since then he has won the Masters 1000 tournament in Paris, the ATP Finals in London and the ATP Cup with Russia. The next person looking to stop the 2019 US Open finalist's run is Serbian Filip Krajinovic. The Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas had to fight hard. The 2019 semi-finalist won against the Australian Thanasi Kokkinakis after 4:32 hours 6:7 (5),6:4,6:1,6:7 (5),6:4, after already missing a match point in the fourth set had. Record man Feliciano Lopez, who is playing his 75th Grand Slam tournament without interruption in Melbourne, won against number 31 ranked Italian Lorenzo Sonego with 5:7,3:6,6:3,7:5,6:4. Since the French Open in 2002, the 39-year-old Lopez has not missed any of the four major tournaments. In 2001 he appeared in a Grand Slam for the first time in Paris. Lopez is in 65th place in the world rankings, his best placement was 12th. The Iberian has won seven titles since the start of his professional career in 1997 and has earned prize money of around $17,6 million. Lopez is now in his fourth decade of playing tennis, but also works as a tournament director in Madrid. His opponent in the third round is the Russian Andrej Rublew, 16 years his junior. Lopez's 17-year-old compatriot Carlos Alcaraz, who is considered one of the greatest talents in tennis, lost to Sweden's Mikael Ymer 6:2,4:6,4:6,6:7 (5). Dominik Thiem will take part in the action again on Friday (not before 9.00 a.m. CET), the Lower Austrian will meet the Australian Nick Kyrgios. For women, the Australian Open is for the defending champion Sofia kenin ended after the second round. The American was defeated by Estonian Kaia Kanepi 3:6,2:6 on Thursday. The 35-year-old Kanepi, number 65 in the world, gave the 22-year-old Kenin no chance in 64 minutes. The Estonian fended off all break points and also scored ten aces. One round further is the top seeded Australian Barty with a 6:1,7:6(7) over her compatriot Daria Gavrilova. The 16-year-old American Coco Gauff, the youngest player in the main competition, was eliminated against number five seeded Ukrainian Elena Switolina with a score of 4:6,3:6.

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Nadal confidently continues the hunt for the 21st Grand Slam

Spanish tennis professional Rafael Nadal won the duel with US qualifier Michael Mmoh and reached the third round of the Australian Open. The world number two won on Thursday at the Grand Slam tournament in Melbourne against number 177 in the rankings 6:1,6:4,6:2.

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