Nadal storms into third round

The Spaniard, hunting for a second Australian Open title 11 years after his first, has now lost only three sets in his last nine matches at Melbourne Park, all in his defeat to Novak Djokovic in the 2019 final. World No.76 Delbonis never looked like adding to that tally in the two-and-a-half hour contest at the Rod Laver Arena, particularly as he was unable to muster up a single break point against the 19-time Grand Slam champion.

The World No.1 was a little profligate with his break points - converting only three of 20 - but still comfortably moved through to a meeting with compatriot Pablo Carreno Busta. Dominic Thiem was dragged into an engrossing five-set scrap by former ditch digger Alex Bolt but disappointed a vocal partisan crowd by emerging a 6-2, 5-7, 6-7(5), 6-1, 6-2 winner.

The fifth-seeded Austrian looked in control of the match deep into the second set before Australian wildcard Bolt, who ejected Gilles Simon at the same stage last year, suddenly stole in and took control. In an unbranded T-shirt and creased canary yellow shorts, Bolt looked like he had wandered in from one of the South Australian worksites where he worked as a manual labourer before returning to tennis in 2016.

Fourth seed Daniil Medvedev of Russia dealt with spells of resistance from Spanish qualifier Pedro Martinez and a bleeding nose on his way to a 7-5, 6-1, 6-3 win.

Melbourne: Sania Mirza’s first Grand Slam outing after maternity leave ended with an early exit as the Indian ace retired mid-way through her women’s doubles first round match due to a calf injury, here on Thursday.

Sania and her Ukrainian partner Nadiia Kichenok, who came into the major after winning the doubles title at the Hobart International, were trailing 2-6, 0-1 against the Chinese combination of Xinyun Han and Lin Zhu when the Indian called it quits. Sania had injured her leg during practice and is returning to the circuit after a two-year break.

Her right calf heavily strapped, Sania struggled to move freely on court. It also affected her serve. Kichenok was also struggling at the net, often missing easy put-away volleys. Serving at 2-4, Sania was broken by the Chinese pair, which later served out the set easily. The Indian took a medial timeout after the first set.

Soon after, the Indo-Ukrainian duo was broken in the first game of the second set and Sania found it difficult to continue. Sania had also pulled out of the mixed doubles event on Wednesday, forcing compatriot Rohan Bopanna to pair with Kichenok.

Also representing India in mixed doubles is veteran Leander Paes, who has teamed up with Jelena Ostapenko (Latvia), who had won 2017 French Open. They are pitted against local wild card entrants Storm Sanders and Marc Polmans.