World number one Rafael Nadal produced a couple of spectacular winners in the tie-break to beat world number 52 Leonardo Mayer. Nadal emerged winner with a 6-3 6-4 7-6(7-4) in two hours 38 minutes at the Rod Laver arena.
Third seed Grigor Dimitrov avoided a late scare by world number 186 Mackenzie McDonald to advance to the third round. The Bulgarian made it through 4-6 6-2 6-4 0-6 8-6 after three hours and 25 minutes. Sixth seed Marin Cilic wasted no time to dispatch Portugal’s Joao Sousa 6-1 7-5 6-2.
Croatia’s Ivo Karlovic became the oldest man to reach the third round of the Australian Open for 40 years when he edged Japan’s Yuichi Sugita in five sets.
Karlovic came through 7-6(3) 6-7(3) 7-5 4-6 12-10 in four hours 33 minutes, the longest match in the tournament so far.
He will face Italian Andreas Seppi in round three when he will be the oldest player to contest that round since Ken Rosewall, aged 44, in 1978 when the draw was only 64.
France’s Jo-Wilfried Tsonga came from 5-2 down in the final set to beat young Denis Shapovalov in five sets at the Australian Open, 3-6, 6-3, 1-6, 7-6 (4), 7-5.
In the women’s tournament, Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine became the youngest player to reach the third round of a Grand Slam in over 20 years following a 6-3 7-5 win over Olivia Rogowska at the Australian Open. She is the youngest player to reach a Grand Slam third round since Mirjana Lucic-Baroni in the 1997 US Open.
Fourth seed Elina Svitolina fought an early setback as she came through to beat Katerina Siniakova 4-6 6-2 6-1 in the second round of the Australian Open.
Caroline Wozniacki saved two match points as she battled back from 5-1 down in the deciding set to beat 21-year-old Croatian Jana Fett 3-6 6-2 7-5 in the second round of the Australian Open on Wednesday. The world number two who was heading oul, reeled off six games in a row to avoid an upset from Fett.
