Tennis – Nadal follows Djokovic in the second round – Sport

Melbourne (AP) – Rafael Nadal has reached the second round of the Australian Open with an undisputed three-set win.

The second in the world rankings, who had renounced the ATP Cup the previous week due to persistent back problems, won in Melbourne against the Serbian tennis professional Laslo Djere 6: 3, 6: 4, 6: 1. The day before, the ranking first Novak Djokovic from Serbia had also made it into the next round with confidence.

The Russian co-favorite Daniil Medvedev also decided his opening match for himself. The 24-year-old gave the Canadian Vasek Pospisil no chance at 6: 2, 6: 2, 6: 4. Medvedev and the Russian team won the final of the ATP Cup against Italy on Sunday. With the success against Pospisil, he expanded his winning streak to 15 matches. Medvedev won the season’s eight best professionals at the ATP Finals last year and is one of the favorites at the first Grand Slam tournament of the year.

“I did a good job today, three sentences, that’s good. Of course it wasn’t the ideal preparation, but now I look from day to day,” said Nadal in the winner’s interview on the pitch. The 34-year-old Spaniard has only triumphed once at the Australian Open in 2009. Should he win the title this year, he would be the professional tennis player with the most men’s Grand Slam victories. So far, Nadal and Roger Federer, who is missing this year, have each won 20 Grand Slam tournaments. Djokovic follows with 17 titles.

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