Rafael Nadal has made a mockery of his outsider status to march into the second round of the Australian Open in Melbourne.
Playing just his eighth competitive match in six months, Nadal crushed seasoned Russian Mikhail Youzhny 6-3 6-2 6-2 to join three-time finalist Andy Murray in advancing in straight sets on Monday.
The 14-time grand slam champion entered the tournament with doubts about his ability to compete for the title after being sidelined for much of 2014 with a back issue.
An appendectomy in November ended the Spaniard’s season before he suffered an inglorious first-round loss to world No.127 Michael Berrer in Doha two weeks ago.
Nadal, though, looked every bit the world No.3 and championship threat in sweeping past Youzhny in one hour, 50 minutes.
“This first match was tough mentally for me, the first big test of the season,” he said.
“I hope this match will give me confidence for the next round.”
That will come against either Australian wildcard Luke Saville or American qualifier Tim Smyczek on Wednesday.
Murray earlier defeated Indian qualifier Yuki Bhambri 6-3 6-4 7-6 (7-3) to book a showdown with local hope Marinko Matosevic.
“I think he’s starting to relax and loosen up once he got (his first grand slam) win at the French Open,” Murray said of Matosevic.
“He’s a good ball striker. Big guy. Serves well. He works extremely hard. He has a good work ethic. Yeah, should be a fun match.”
Matosevic was forced to go the distance to clinch his long-awaited first win in six appearances at his home-town major, outlasting Russian qualifier Alexander Kudryavtsev 6-4 6-7 (5-7) 4-6 7-5 6-3.
Czech seventh seed Tomas Berdych outclassed Colombia’s Alejandro Falla 6-3 7-6 (7-1) 6-3, while Open dark horse Grigor Dimitrov made light work of Germany’s Dustin Brown.
Bulgaria’s 10th seed Dimitrov broke Brown five times to progress 6-2 6-3 6-2 in just 67 minutes.
The 2014 Wimbledon semi-finalist next plays Slovakia’s Lukas Lacko, a five-set first-round winner over Argentina’s Maximo Gonzalez.
South African 14th seed Kevin Anderson beat Diego Schwartzman of Argentina 7-6 (7-5) 7-5 5-7 6-4, while French 29th seed Jeremy Chardy took out exciting Croatian teenager Borna Coric 3-6 6-4 7-5 6-4.
Wildcard playoff winner Jordan Thompson was the first local loser.
Thompson succumbed 6-4 7-6 (7-5) 6-4 in a disappointing result for the youngster after he pushed 2013 Wimbledon semi-finalist Jerzy Janowicz to five sets on his main-draw debut last year.
In other matches on day one, Belgium’s 20th seed David Goffin eliminated the oldest man in the draw, 36-year-old American qualifier Michael Russell, 6-3 6-3 5-7 6-0.
