This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

Rafael Nadal withstood a spirited performance from Leonardo Mayer to reach the third round of the Australian Open.

The world No 1 was not as dominant as in his first-round win against Victor Estrella Burgos but that had a lot to do with the performance of the Argentinian Mayer, who refused to allow Nadal to pull away.

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There was no real question of Mayer threatening an upset, as he had briefly at the US Open last summer when he won the first set of their third-round match before Nadal’s game clicked into gear. But he showed good resistance to break the Nadal serve when the Spaniard served for the match before going down 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 (4).

Nadal said: “It’s an important victory for me, a tough opponent. Leonardo is a player with big potential, he hits the ball so strong. I had to hit some great shots in the tie-break.

“I’m happy to be in the third round. For my team and my family this tournament is the favourite of the year so I want to stay as long as possible.”

In the last 32, Nadal will face the 28th seed Damir Dzumhur from Bosnia, who defeated the Australian John Millman 7-5, 3-6, 6-4, 6-1.