Rafael Nadal scores gritty win as he keeps Australian Open campaign on track

Rafael Nadal has ground his way into the Australian Open third round, seeing off qualifier Yannick Hanfmann on Rod Laver Arena.

Nadal was scratchy at times, converting just four of 16 break points, and took more than two-and-a-half hours to defeat the gritty German 6-2, 6-3, 6-4.

The 2009 Australian Open champion was joined in the third round by fellow seed Matteo Berrettini (seven), who defeated US wildcard Stefan Kozlov 6-1, 4-6, 6-4, 6-1.

Nadal's countrymen Pablo Carreño Busta and Carlos Alcaraz — seeded 19th and 31st respectively — also progressed.

At 18, Alcaraz is the youngest man to reach the third round at Melbourne Park since Bernard Tomic in 2011 after a 6-2, 6-1, 7-5 defeat of Dušan Lajović.

He plays Berrettini in the third round.

Canada's 14th seed Denis Shapovalov fought back to beat South Korea's Kwon Soon-woo 7-6 (8-6), 6-7 (3-7), 6-7 (6-8), 7-5, 6-2 in a marathon clash lasting almost four-and-half-hours. He plays Reilly Opelka of the US in the third round.

Polish 10th seed Hubert Hurkacz went down in an upset to France's Adrian Mannarino, who won 6-4, 6-2, 6-3.

Out on Court 8, American Sebastian Korda — whose Czech father Petr won the men's title in 1998 — beat Frenchman Corentin Moutet in a five-set thriller lasting four hours and 47 minutes, 3-6, 6-4, 6-7 (2-7), 7-5, 7-6 (10-6).

Meanwhile, local wildcard Aleksandar Vukic was unable to back up his first win at the Australian Open, losing to Moldovan Radu Albot in straight sets.

Vukic had his moments during the second-round match late on Wednesday, but could never capitalise against the world number 124, going down 6-4, 7-6 (7-4), 6-4.

Earlier in the afternoon, world number six Nadal credited Hanfmann — his 2019 French Open first-round opponent — with making his