Nadal eases through in Melbourne

Rafael Nadal looked back to his best as he defeated Germany's Florian Mayer in the first round of the Australian Open in Melbourne.

Nadal struggled with injury during 2016 but a strong performance from the 2009 winner saw him overcome Mayer 6-3 6-4 6-4 on Rod Laver Arena.

Having dominated from the start, Nadal had to wait until the fifth opportunity to take the opening set before breaking Mayer on his way to the second. Another break in the ninth game of the third sealed victory for the former world number one, who will next face Marcos Baghdatis in the second round.

"He doesn't have the typical game so he's going to the net. He changes a lot with different points," Nadal said of Mayer.

"You need to be careful doing every single shot that he is hitting, so for me it is a great victory and I'm very happy to keep having chances to play here in Melbourne.

"Today was a good first round for me. Florian is a tough first player to play against."

Third seed Milos Raonic is also through to the second round after a 6-3 6-4 6-2 win over Germany's Dustin Brown.

There were no problems for defending champion Novak Djokovic, who defeated Spain's Fernando Verdasco 6-1 7-6 6-2.

After a one-sided first set, Djokovic was made to work a lot harder in the second as Verdasco broke immediately before a second break put him in a position to level the match.

However, despite a number of unforced errors, Djokovic managed to force the tie-break, which he took 6-4, and he raised his game to wrap it up in three sets.

“It feels like home,” Djokovic, who will face Denis Istomin in the next round, said of his return to Melbourne. “It feels like coming back to the place that I had an incredible amount of beautiful memories.

“Of course, when I saw the draw I thought to myself, this the only match I can focus on. I managed to start really well with great intensity. The second set was a gamble – it was pretty close.”

Grigor Dimitrov beat Australia's Christopher O'Connell 7-6 6-3 6-3, while France's Richard Gasquet is through after a 6-4 6-4 6-2 win over Blake Mott.

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