The top half of the men's draw at the 2022 Australian Open returned to the courts with second-round action at Melbourne Park.

There were no issues for third seed Alexander Zverev and sixth seed Rafael Nadal as each man cruised through while tenth seed Hubert Hurkacz was the lone seed to lose.

Zverev, Nadal remain on course for last eight clash

Zverev looked in top form, hitting 14 aces in a comprehensive 6-4, 6-4, 6-0 victory over John Millman as he is heading towards a quarterfinal showdown with Nadal, who dominated qualifier Yannick Hanfmann 6-2, 6-3, 6-4.

Embed from Getty Images

"I am in the third round, I need to win tough matches to be there. I don't have nig pressure on my shoulders, honestly, I don't feel it. 

"The pressure is only to stay healthy and to enjoy the fact that I am competing again, then give my best as I did during all my tennis career."

Other results

There were several close calls involving seeded players as 14th seed Denis Shapovalov rallied to defeat Soon-woo Kwon 7-6 (6), 6-7 (3), 6-7 (6), 7-5, 6-2, 16th seed Cristian Garin got by Pedro Martinez 6-7 (1), 7-6 (4), 2-6, 6-2, 6-2 and 19th seed Pablo Carreno Busta 6-3, 6-7 (6), 7-6 (3), 3-6, 6-4.

Seventh seed Matteo Berrettini had a slight hiccup, but managed to beat Stefan Kozlov 6-1, 4-6, 6-4, 6-1, 17th seed Gael Monfils blew away Alexander Bublik 6-1, 6-0, 6-4 and 18th seed Aslan Karatsev, surprise semifinalist last year, dropped the first set to Mackenzie McDonald, but managed to win 3-6, 6-2, 6-2, 6-3.

Embed from Getty Images

23rd seed Reilly Opelka defeated Dominik Koepfer 6-4, 6-3, 7-6 (4), 25th seed Lorenzo Sonego got by Oscar Otte 2-6, 6-2, 6-3, 6-1, 28th seed Karen Khachanov had no problems with Benjamin Bonzi, winning 6-4, 6-0, 7-5 and 31st seed Carlos Alcaraz breezed past Dusan Lajovic 6-2, 6-1, 7-5, 

There were three matchups between unseeded players as Sebastian Korda survived a marathon against Corentin Moutet 3-6, 6-4, 6-7 (2), 7-5, 7-6 (6), qualifier Radu Albot swept past wild card Aleksandar Vukic 6-4, 7-6 (4), 6-4 and Miomir Kecmanovic edged past Tommy Paul 7-6 (8), 7-5, 7-6 (7).

VAVEL Logo
About the author