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MELBOURNE. — Rafael Nadal swept into the Australian Open tennis third round to keep his Grand Slam title hunt on track yesterday, as Caroline Wozniacki and Grigor Dimitrov pulled off great escapes to stay in contention.

The world No. 1 Spaniard’s march towards a 17th Grand Slam crown was never threatened by Argentina’s Leonardo Mayer, who took him to a third set tiebreak before being swatted aside 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 (7/4) on Rod Laver Arena.

“Playing this court is always a big motivation for me,” said Nadal, who lost last year’s final to Roger Federer. He was a dangerous opponent and I’m happy to be in the third round. For my team and my family, this is our favourite tournament of the year, so I hope to stay around a bit longer,” he added.

Nadal, showing no signs of the troublesome knee that bothered him late last season and interrupted his Melbourne lead-up, next plays Bosnian 28th seed Damir Dzumhur.

Surprisingly, he was not the prime time men’s night match on centre court, with that honour going to third seed Dimitrov, who survived a huge scare from unheralded qualifier Mackenzie McDonald. The Bulgarian needed to call on all his experience to down the 186th-ranked American 4-6, 6-2, 6-4, 0-6, 8-6.

“I’m very happy with the win, not because the way I played, but because the way I fought,” said Dimitrov. “It all came down to a few points here and there.” In contrast to Nadal’s easy progress, world No 2 Wozniacki also struggled against little-known Croat Jana Fett. The Dane saved two match points and rallied from 5-1 down in an epic third set to keep her dream of a first Grand Slam title alive. She looked out for the count, and was struggling afterwards to work out how she survived 3-6, 6-2, 7-5 against a player ranked 119.

“That was crazy, I don’t how I got back in the match,” said Wozniacki, adding that “experience was crucial”. Fourth seed Elina Svitolina also came from a set down to overcome spirited Czech Katerina Siniakova 4-6, 6-2, 6-1.

The Ukrainian is now on a seven-match win streak and after picking up five WTA Tour titles last year, more than any other woman, is a serious Grand Slam contender. Her next task is tackling 15-year-old sensation Marta Kostyuk, who became the youngest woman to reach the third round since Martina Hingis got to the quarter-finals in 1996. — AFP.