MELBOURNE: Rafa Nadal’s Australian Open title defence lay in ruins on Wednesday after an injury-plagued defeat that shook up the men’s draw, even as rain wreaked further scheduling havoc at Melbourne Park on day three.

Nadal’s wife Mery was in tears as a wincing Nadal suffered a left hip problem midway through his 6-4, 6-4, 7-5 loss to American Mackenzie McDonald at Rod Laver Arena and gloomily played out the match in pain.

The result not only opens up the top half of the draw, it also hands Novak Djokovic a boost as the Serb hunts a 10th title at Melbourne Park to draw level with Nadal’s 22 major triumphs in the Grand Slam race.

“It has been like this a couple of days,” said Nadal of his injury. “I have a history of hip issues. I’ve had to do treatments in the past but it was not this amount of a problem.”

For all Nadal’s struggles, hard-hitting McDonald was hugely impressive and had the better of the match before his veteran opponent broke down.

Humiliated by Nadal at the same stage of the 2020 French Open, their only previous meeting, McDonald was glad to square the ledger.

“He’s an incredible champion, he’s never going to give up regardless of the situation so even closing it out against a top guy like that is always tough,” said McDonald, who is into the third round and a match against Yoshihito Nishioka of Japan. “I was trying to stay focused on what I was trying to do and he kind of got me out of my rhythm, and I just got through it.”

Another shock appeared set to rock Melbourne Park when Felix Auger-Aliassime went two sets down against Alex Molcan at Margaret Court Arena but the Canadian sixth seed rallied to close out the match 3-6, 3-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-2.

There was less tension in the women’s side, as Iga Swiatek, hot favourite for the women’s title, overcame Camila Osorio 6-2, 6-3 under the roof on Rod Laver Arena.

A highly-anticipated first meeting between tennis prodigies went the way of Coco Gauff, who outshone Briton Emma Raducanu to win 6-3, 7-6 (7-4) in the evening session — offering fans a glimpse of the future of women’s tennis in the post-Serena Williams era.

The two good friends went toe-to-toe throughout, exchanging service breaks, but the turning point came in the second set when the American grittily saved two set points at 4-5.

Gauff then edged past the 20-year-old Briton on her third match point in the tiebreak, before they embraced warmly at the net.

“The whole match was great and considering the circumstances I can imagine both of us was nervous. This was a long-anticipated match-up since the draw came out,” said Gauff.

Daniil Medvedev stayed on course to reach a third successive final at Melbourne Park with another straight-sets victory, as the Russian flexed his muscles to ease past Australian John Millman 7-5, 6-2, 6-2.

Stefanos Tsitsipas was equally dominant against another home hope in Rinky Hijikata as the Greek third seed won 6-3, 6-0, 6-2.

Men’s dark horse Jannik Sinner, who has reached the quarter-finals of all four Grand Slams but never gone any further, also swept into the third round by waltzing past Tomas Etcheverry 6-3, 6-2, 6-2 on the similarly protected John Cain Arena.

RAIN PLAYS HAVOC

Rain kept the players off the outer courts throughout the day session, however, adding to fixture congestion triggered by extreme heat and storms on Tuesday when nine matches did not get started and two could not be completed.

Matches eventually got going following a delay of over six hours and after waiting nearly a day, Thanasi Kokkinakis needed three minutes and five points to dispatch Fabio Fognini 6-1, 6-2, 6-2 and set up a second-round match with Andy Murray.

It was a good day for the Americans — winners of the United Cup team event — as Jessica Pegula downed Aliaksandra Sasnovich 6-2, 7-6 (7-5) while last year’s beaten finalist Danielle Collins had an almighty scare before defeating Karolina Muchova 6-7 (1-7), 6-2, 7-6 (10-6) in the last match of the day,

Greek sixth seed Maria Sakkari had a scare on Margaret Court Arena against 18-year-old Diana Shnaider and was forced to come from a set down to beat the Russian teenager 3-6, 7-5, 6-3 over more than 2-1/2 hours.

Sakkari was irked by Shnaider’s fist pumps and celebratory screams, before finding her composure.

Bianca Andreescu crashed to a 2-6, 7-6 (7-6), 6-4 defeat by Cristina Bucsa while Petra Kvitova fell 7-5, 6-4 against Anhelina Kalinina and Sloane Stephens was beaten 7-6 (7-2), 6-4 by Anastasia Potapova as Grand Slam champions continued to tumble out.

But Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina returned to the spotlight of John Cain Arena after her Court 13 opener to dispatch Kaja Juvan 6-2, 6-1, while 2021 French Open winner Barbora Krejcikova beat Clara Burel 6-4, 6-1.

Victoria Azarenka, Australian Open champion in 2012 and 2013, lost only one game en route to beating Nadia Podoroska.

Published in Dawn, January 19th, 2023