Australian Open: Nadal grits his way past Draper in four sets to reach second round

Spain’s Rafael Nadal, the top seed and defending champion, defeated young British player Jack Draper in four sets to reach the second round of the Australian Open at Melbourne Park on Monday.

Playing the third match in Rod Laver Arena, Nadal struggled to produce his best tennis proved too strong ultimately as he beat fellow left-hander Draper 7-5, 2-6, 6-4, 6-1 in three hours and 41 minutes.

Draper appeared to be struggling physically during the last two sets but showed enough glimpses of his A-game, which has made him one of the most exciting young prospects on the men’s tour.

Nadal, ranked No 2 and with a shot to leave Melbourne as the world’s top-ranked player, will face American Mackenzie McDonald next.

Australian Open (Grand Slam), other first-round results (Melbourne Park, hard, USD 24.297.942, most recent results first):

• Jason Kubler (WC) beat Sebastian Baez: 6-4, 6-4, 6-4
• Taro Daniel beat Ernesto Escobedo (Q): 7-5, 6-2, 3-6, 6-3
• Frances Tiafoe (16) beat Daniel Altmaier: 6-3, 6-3, 6-7 (5), 7-6 (6)
• Karen Khachanov (18) beat Bernabe Zapata Miralles: 7-6 (3), 6-2, 6-0
• Mackenzie McDonald beat Brandon Nakashima: 7-6 (5), 7-6 (1), 1-6, 6-7 (10), 6-4
• Tallon Griekspoor beat Pavel Kotov (LL): 6-3, 7-6 (3), 6-3
• Denis Shapovalov (20) beat Dusan Lajovic: 6-4, 4-6, 6-4, 6-1
• Yoshihito Nishioka (31) beat Mikael Ymer: 6-4, 6-2, 7-5
• Sebastian Korda (29) beat Cristian Garin: 6-4, 1-6, 6-3, 6-2
• Hubert Hurkacz (10) beat Pedro Martinez: 7-6 (1), 6-2, 6-2
• Corentin Moutet beat Yibing Wu (WC): 6-4, 5-7, 6-2, 4-6, 7-5
• Francisco Cerundolo (28) beat Guido Pella: 6-4, 6-4, 6-3
• Jannik Sinner (15) beat Kyle Edmund: 6-4, 6-0, 6-2
• Tomas Martin Etcheverry beat Gregoire Barrere: 3-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-4
• Botic van de Zandschulp (32) beat Ilya Ivashka: 6-3, 3-6, 7-5, 6-3
• Yosuke Watanuki (Q) beat Arthur Rinderknech: 6-3, 6-3, 6-2
• Juncheng Shang (Q) beat Oscar Otte: 6-2, 6-4, 6-7 (2), 7-5
• Tomas Machac vs. Casper Ruud
• Roberto Carballes Baena vs. Novak Djokovic
• Yu Hsiou Hsu vs. Alex De Minaur
• Denis Kudla vs. Roman Safiullin
• João Sousa vs. Roberto Bautista Agut
• Aleksandar Vukic vs. Brandon Holt
• Enzo Couacaud vs. Hugo Dellien
• Richard Gasquet vs. Ugo Humbert
• Christopher O’Connell vs. Jenson Brooksby
• Thanasi Kokkinakis vs. Fabio Fognini
• Juan Pablo Varillas vs. Alexander Zverev
• Chun-Hsin Tseng vs. Alexei Popyrin
• John Isner vs. Adrian Mannarino
• Jan-Lennard Struff vs. Tommy Paul
• Matteo Berrettini vs. Andy Murray
• David Goffin vs. Laurent Lokoli
• Ben Shelton vs. Zhizhen Zhang
• Taylor Fritz vs. Nikoloz Basilashvili
• Maxime Cressy vs. Albert Ramos-Vinolas
• Max Purcell vs. Emil Ruusuvuori
• Alejandro Davidovich Fokina vs. Alexander Bublik
• J.J. Wolf vs. Jordan Thompson
• Nicolas Jarry vs. Miomir Kecmanovic
• Pablo Carreno Busta vs. Pedro Cachin
• Filip Krajinovic vs. Holger Rune
• Diego Schwartzman vs. Oleksii Krutykh
• Zizou Bergs vs. Laslo Djere
• Grigor Dimitrov vs. Aslan Karatsev
• Mattia Bellucci vs. Benjamin Bonzi
• Facundo Bagnis vs. Daniel Evans
• Daniel Elahi Galan vs. Jeremy Chardy
• Andrey Rublev vs. Dominic Thiem
• Marcos Giron vs. Daniil Medvedev
• Stefanos Tsitsipas vs. Quentin Halys
• Thiago Monteiro vs. Constant Lestienne
• Lorenzo Musetti vs. Lloyd Harris
• Vasek Pospisil vs. Felix Auger-Aliassime
• Cameron Norrie vs. Luca Van Assche
• Yannick Hanfmann vs. Rinky Hijikata
• Alex Molcan vs. Stan Wawrinka
• Federico Coria vs. Marton Fucsovics
• Christopher Eubanks vs. SoonWoo Kwon
• John Millman vs. Marc-Andrea Huesler