It took Nadal an hour and 49 minutes to get rid of the number 66 in the world. He only allowed his opponent two breakpoints, won 84 percent of the points on his first serve and finished it off with a strong serve.
Nadal can make history in Melbourne by becoming the first tennis player to win more than 20 grand slams. He is on a par with Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer, who are not present in Melbourne. Djokovic’s visa was revoked last week after a long soap, Federer is still injured.
Nadal was the best in Melbourne only once before, in 2009. Thirteen years ago, he was too strong for Federer in the final in five sets. Since then, he has made it to the final four times.
Nadal will meet the winner of the game between German Yannick Hanfmann and Thanasi Kokkinakis from Australia in the second round. Kokkinakis won an ATP tournament in Adelaide this weekend.
Osaka
With the women, title holder Naomi Osaka has secured a place in the second round of the Australian Open without any problems. The two-time champion in Melbourne was 6-3 6-3 too strong for Colombian Camila Osorio in her first match.
Osaka quickly took a 5-0 lead at the Rod Laver Arena and appeared to be heading for a very easy victory. Osorio, however, came back to 5-3 and even had chances to make it 5-4 as well. However, Osaka cleared two breakpoints and used her first setpoint. In the second set, the Japanese broke her opponent twice and after 68 minutes she finished it off on the serve of the number 50 in the world.
The 24-year-old Osaka is aiming to return to the absolute top after a season that was overshadowed by her media boycott at Roland Garros and mental problems. The Japanese has dropped to place 14 in the world ranking.
Due to her lower ranking, Osaka can already meet first-seeded Ashleigh Barty in the fourth round.
Gauff disabled
On the opening day, 17-year-old American Cori Gauff was eliminated. The number 18 of the placement list lost 6-4 6-2 to the Chinese Wang Qiang, the global number 110. Two years ago, Wang was already in the last sixteen in Melbourne.
Gauff caused a sensation in 2019 by reaching the fourth round at Wimbledon with her debut at a grand slam. She was then only 15 years old. Since then, she has only lost once in the opening round of a grand slam, at the 2020 US Open.
In the first match at the Rod Laver Arena, fifth seed Maria Sakkari secured a longer stay in Melbourne. The Greek, who lost in the first round last year, had to make an effort to get rid of the German Tatjana Maria: 6-4 7-6 (2).