Nadal and Federer march on as rising stars prosper
It was business as usual for Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal as they both progressed to the Australian Open third round on Wednesday.
Neither has dropped a set in their opening two matches in Melbourne as they edge closer to a semi-final meeting.
Federer had it tougher against Dan Evans than Nadal did against Matt Ebden, the Swiss ultimately prevailing 7-6 (7-5) 7-6 (7-3) 6-3, while the Spaniard enjoyed a more comprehensive 6-3 6-2 6-2 success.
Fifth seed Kevin Anderson will not be joining them, though, after Frances Tiafoe sent him packing despite losing the first set to the big-serving South African.
Marin Cilic, Tomas Berdych, Grigor Dimitrov, Alex de Minaur – who will now face Nadal – and Karen Khachanov all progressed on day three as an intriguing bottom half of the draw begins to take shape.