Rafael Nadal has secured a place in the last 32 at the Australian Open without losing a set. The winner of 2009 left American Michael Mmoh 6-1 6-4 6-2 without a chance in the second round.

 

The game lasted an hour and 47 minutes.

The Spanish tennis player, himself the number 2 in the world, did not grant the global number 177 any breakpoint. Nadal won five times the American service game, who had won three qualifying matches in Doha last month.

A remarkable moment took place in the second set’s closing stages when Nadal served for a set win at 5-4. A female spectator raised her middle finger to the Spaniard, and the game was therefore temporarily halted. In the end, the woman was even removed from the stadium. Nadal seemed to enjoy it, laughed hard at the incident and won the set convincingly.

34-year-old Nadal hopes to conquer his 21st grand slam title in Melbourne. In the run-up to the first grand slam tournament of the year, he was bothered by a back injury, but against Mmoh he was not treated for it, and he seemed to suffer little from it.

The Russian Daniil Medvedev needed 3 minutes less to get rid of the Spaniard Roberto Carballés Baena. It became 6-2 7-5 6-1 for the number 4 on the placement list, who already booked his sixteenth victory in a row.