Osaka and Barty stride closer to showdown as Nadal rolls on

MELBOURNE (AFP): Naomi Osaka played the role of smiling assassin and top seed Ashleigh Barty was ruthlessly efficient at the Australian Open on Wednesday as they moved closer to a potential fourth-round showdown.

Naomi Osaka

Ashleigh Barty

Rafael Nadal

Rafael Nadal ramped up his march towards an unprecedented men’s 21st Grand Slam crown but needed five match points to put away tenacious qualifier Yannick Hanfmann.

The impressive Barty, chasing a first title at her home Slam, barely broke sweat in her second-round match, breezing past Italian qualifier Lucia Bronzetti 6-1, 6-1 in just 52 minutes in the heat of the Rod Laver Arena.

Not to be outdone, defending champion Osaka rushed through the first set 6-0 against Madison Brengle but then had a couple of dicey moments in the second set, before polishing it off 6-4, greeting the beaten American with a smile at the net.

Rivals Barty and Osaka, who share six major titles between them, are now one victory away from a last-16 showdown at Melbourne Park.

But first Barty, the Wimbledon champion and hot favourite in Melbourne, faces a potentially tricky task against 30th seed Camila Giorgi.

The ultra-consistent Barty, who won the lead-up tournament in Adelaide, hasn’t dropped her serve for 48 straight games over five matches this year.

Japan’s Osaka faces American Amanda Anisimova, a budding talent who sprang a shock in defeating Olympic champion Belinda Bencic.

Osaka, winner of the 2019 and 2021 Australian Opens, has vowed to have more fun on court this year, following a difficult last year in which she said she had suffered from depression.

With defending champion Novak Djokovic deported on the eve of the season’s first Grand Slam, the men’s draw has opened up for Spanish veteran Nadal.

The 20-time Slam winner, who recently won his first tournament after five months out battling a foot injury, was never really troubled by the German Hanfmann until the end.

Down 3-5, 0-40, the world number 126 fought back to extend the contest and saved two more match points, before finally succumbing 6-2, 6-3, 6-4.

Next up for the 35-year-old Nadal is Russian 28th seed Karen Khachanov, which should be an altogether bigger test of his title credentials.

Nadal, the sixth seed, could face third seed Alexander Zverev in the quarter-finals but he is refusing to look that far ahead.