Rafael Nadal eased concerns over his injured back as he made a fast start to his bid for a record 21st Grand Slam at at the Australian Open while Daniil Medvedev extended his winning streak to 15 matches and fellow Russian Andery Rublev continued his unbeaten start to the year on Tuesday.
Among the seeds to fall in the opening round were 12th seed Roberto Bautista Agut, who was beaten by Radu Albot 6-7 (1/7), 6-0, 6-4, 7-6 (7/5) and 13th seed David Goffin, whose wrteched run continued as he lost to local player Alexei Popyrin 3-6, 6-4, 6-7 (4/7), 7-6 (8/6), 6-3
Nadal, who pulled out of last year’s ATP Cup with back problems, beat Serbia’s Laslo Djere 6-3, 6-4, 6-1 in one hour and 52 minutes. It was his first competitive match since the semi-finals of the ATP Finals in London on November 21.
Nadal raced to a 3-0 first-set lead and wrapped it up before a tougher set two as Djere upped his first serve percentage and got himself in the rallies, with Nadal saving three…