Melbourne

Channelling his early years with a sleeveless shirt, the muscular Mallorcan threw Mayer like a rag-doll around the Rod Laver Arena court for two hours and 38 minutes, pounding the world number 52 with a barrage of topspin bombs. 

A masterful performance was blighted only by a late wobble, when Nadal was broken serving for the match at 5-4 in the decider. But the Spaniard found an extra gear in the tiebreak, wrapping up the match with a monster serve to the corner that Mayer battled to get a racket to. Nadal’s bid for a 17th grand slam title continues against Bosnian 28th seed Damir Dzumhur. 

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, who reached the Australian Open final 10 years ago, is part of the old guard holding back the charge of precocious young warriors hungry to seize power. He managed it, just, on Wednesday as his vast experience saw the 15th seed outlast straggly-haired Canadian teenager Denis Shapovalov in a five-set classic in Melbourne. 

Their second-round clash always looked like being something special and it was just that, as Tsonga avenged a straightsets defeat at last year’s US Open to reach the third round for the 10th time with a 3-6 6-3 1-6 7-6(4) 7-5 win. 

Outplayed at times by the stylish left-hander who struck 60 winners, Tsonga looked a beaten man at 5-2 down in the deciding set before he roused himself to claim an improbable victory.

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