On Friday night, Rafael Nadal continued his bid to win the year’s opening Grand Slam event as he defeated Alex de Minaur in straight sets and eased into the last 16 of the Grand Slam for the 43rd time in his career.
The 17 times Grand Slam champion sent out a message as he dragged the 19 years old Australian hope to every inch of the Rod Laver Arena to gain a victory by 6-1, 6-2 and 6-4.
Alex de Minaur won the tournament in Sydney earlier and was the hope at home after he won the men’s draw. However, his scoreline still remains the same as it did back in Wimbledon last summer against Rafael Nadal.
The young Aussie players showed great courage but Nadal was simply too strong for him as he moved into the fourth round to play next against the unseeded Czech former world No 4 Tomas Berdych.
On the other hand, Grigor Dimitrov in his match against the Italian Thomas Fabbiano managed to in and move into the last 16 of the tournament.
The 27-year-old Bulgarian won the match by 7-6 (7-5) 6-4 and 6-4 in just over two hours at Melbourne Arena as he stays on course to face Nadal in the quarterfinals.
As for the American Tiafoe, he managed to make a comeback from losing against the veteran Italian player Andreas Seppi by 6-7 (3-7) 6-3 4-6 6-4 6-3 in three hours and 17 minutes.
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