The tournament held in Melbourne continued with morning session matches on the third day.
Chasing the 21st grand slam title of his career, 35-year-old Nadal faced world number 126 German Yannick Hanfmann, who came from the qualifying round, in the second round. The Spanish athlete, who defeated his opponent 3-0 with 6-2, 6-3 and 6-4 sets, took the tour.
Nadal will face the winner of the Karen Khachanov-Benjamin Bonzi pairing in the third round.
7th seeded Italian Matteo Berrettini left the USA’s Stefan Kozlov, who was struggling with the special invitation, out of the tournament with 6-1, 4-6, 6-4 and 6-1 sets.
BARTY STRONGLY IN THE THIRD ROUND
1 seeded Australian Ashleigh Barty, struggling for the first Australian Open title of her career, defeated world 142 Italian Lucia Bronzetti 2-0 with 6-1 sets.
Barty, who gave only three games to his opponents in the two games he played, will face another Italian athlete, 30th seeded Camila Giorgi, in the third round.
8th seeded Spaniard Paula Badosa defeated Italian Martina Trevisan 6-0 and 6-3, 2012 and 2013 Australian Open champion Belarusian Victoria Azarenka defeated Swiss Jil Teichmann 2-0 with 6-1 and 6-2 sets.
The 15th seeded Ukrainian Elina Svitolina withdrew her opponent in the third set, and the 2017 French Open champion, Latvian Jelena Ostapenko, beat Alison Riske of the USA 2-1 in sets of 4-6, 6-2 and 6-4 and entered the third round.
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