MELBOURNE, Australia —
Naomi Osaka played the smiling assassin and top seed Ashleigh Barty was
ruthlessly efficient at the
Australian Open on Wednesday as they edged closer
to a potential fourth-round showdown.
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Rafael Nadal ramped up his
march towards an unprecedented men's 21st Grand Slam crown but needed five
match points to put away tenacious qualifier
Yannick Hanfmann.
The impressive Barty,
chasing a first title at her home Slam, barely broke sweat as she breezed past
Italian qualifier
Lucia Bronzetti 6-1, 6-1 in just 52 minutes in the heat of
Rod Laver Arena in their second-round encounter.
Not to be outdone, defending
champion Osaka rushed through the first set 6-0 against Madison Brengle but then
had a couple of dicey moments in the second set, before polishing it off 6-4,
greeting the beaten American with a smile at the net.
Rivals Barty and Osaka, who
share six major titles between them, are now one victory away from a last-16
showdown at Melbourne Park.
But first Barty, the
Wimbledon champion and hot favorite in Melbourne, faces a potentially tricky
task against 30th seed
Camila Giorgi.
"She is an incredible
ball striker and one of the most athletic girls out there," said the world
number one of the experienced Italian.
The ultra-consistent Barty,
who won the title at a lead-up tournament in Adelaide, hasn't dropped her serve
for 48 straight games over five matches this year.
Japan's Osaka faces American
Amanda Anisimova, who sprang a shock in defeating Olympic champion Belinda
Bencic.
Osaka, winner of the 2019
and 2021 Australian Opens, has vowed to have more fun on court this year,
following a difficult last year in which she said she had suffered depression.
"I am a bit of a
perfectionist. I feel that if I compare myself to the past I will never be
satisfied," she said, to cheers from the crowd.
In-form eighth seed
Paula Badosa, who won the Sydney warm-up tournament, and French Open champion Barbora
Krejcikova both sailed through to round three in two sets.
Nadal quest for
21
With defending men's
champion
Novak Djokovic deported on the eve of the season's first Grand Slam,
the men's draw has opened up for Spanish veteran Nadal.
The 20-time Slam winner, who
recently won his first tournament after five months out battling a foot injury,
was never really troubled by the German Hanfmann until the end of the third
set.
Down 3-5, 0-40, the world
number 126 fought back to extend the contest and saved two more match points,
before finally succumbing 6-2, 6-3, 6-4.
Next up for the 35-year-old
Nadal is Russian 28th seed
Karen Khachanov, which should be an altogether
bigger test of his title credentials.
Nadal, the sixth seed, could
face third seed Alexander Zverev in the quarter-finals but he is refusing to
look that far ahead.
"I don't know, I am in
the third round, I need to win very tough matches to be there," the
Spanish great said.
"I never think that
far. You can imagine now less than ever, no?" he added, an apparent nod to
his recent injury struggles. Nadal also had Covid last month.
Olympic champion Zverev
later plays Australia's
John Millman, who will garner plenty of partisan vocal
support in a late-night encounter on Rod Laver Arena.
Seventh seed
Matteo Berrettini, who endured frequent lavatory trips in a gutsy four-set win on
Monday, defeated American Stefan Kozlov and plays teenage 31st seed Carlos
Alcaraz.
Also through, after
surviving in five sets over Korean Kwon Soon-woo, was Canadian 14th seed Denis
Shapovalov.
But Poland's 10th seed
Hubert Hurkacz was a notable casualty at the hands of Frenchman
Adrian Mannarino.
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