Australian Open: Rafa Nadal survives Jack Draper test, Cameron Norrie advances, Kyle Edmund finds going tough

The defending champion has been short on matches and wins since tearing his abdominal muscle at Wimbledon and went into the clash having lost six of his last seven clashes, the worst run of his career.

He was very wary of exciting young British player Draper and the 21-year-old took the second set but then struggled with cramp from the third set onwards as Nadal came through 7-5 2-6 6-4 6-1.

The Spaniard celebrated like a man in need of victories, and news from elsewhere in the men’s draw would only have cemented that feeling.

While Nadal will certainly have to play much better if he is to have a chance of retaining the trophy he won so brilliantly 12 months ago, he is at least in the draw.

That is more than Australian hope Nick Kyrgios, who pulled out on Monday because of a knee injury, while there is ongoing concern about Novak Djokovic’s hamstring problem.

The nine-time champion and title favourite cancelled a practice session on Monday afternoon and, although he did take to the courts in the evening, it was with heavy strapping on his thigh.

Djokovic sounded downbeat about the issue in his press conference on Saturday and only has until Tuesday night, when he faces Roberto Carballes Baena, to get match fit.

Nadal shrugged off his 46 unforced errors against Draper, saying: “I need a victory, so that’s the main thing. It doesn’t matter the way.

"We knew it was not going to be perfect, as I said the other day. It was not perfect.

“But to win against Jack, I need to do things well. I think I did things well. So I’m satisfied with the victory because that gives me the chance to play after tomorrow again.”

The 36-year-old could play Daniil Medvedev in the quarter-finals in a rematch of last year’s final, and the Russian made a convincing start, defeating American Marcos Giron 6-0 6-1 6-2 in the night session.

Third seed Stefanos Tsitsipas had slightly more trouble against Frenchman Quentin Halys but came through in straight sets, winning 6-3 6-4 7-6 (6), while a good day for the seeds also saw victories for Felix Auger-Aliassime, Hubert Hurkacz, Jannik Sinner, Frances Tiafoe and Denis Shapovalov.

There was a five-set loss, though, for 2014 champion Stan Wawrinka, who is now 37, against Slovakia’s Alex Molcan.

Cameron Norrie joined fellow Briton Emma Raducanu in the second round, battling through a tough first set against 18-year-old Frenchman Luca Van Assche before pulling away to win 7-6 (3) 6-0 6-3.

Norrie only arrived in Melbourne late on Saturday night after a first defeat of the season in the final of the ASB Classic in his home city of Auckland, and he said: “I took a little bit to find my range with the ball but for me it was a solid day. I served for the first set twice and didn’t play the best game, but played a good tie-break, and then I won nine games in a row and was looking good to keep going and ended up winning in straight.

"I’ll take that after a quick turnaround.”

Eleventh seed Norrie, who is Britain’s best hope for a deep run in singles, will next face another French player in Constant Lestienne.

Elsewhere, there were defeats for Harriet Dart and Kyle Edmund on his return to Melbourne Park.

Five years on from his semi-final appearance, Beverley’s Edmund was playing here for the first time since 2020 following three knee operations.

The luck of the draw was not with him as he fell to a 6-4 6-0 6-2 defeat against 15th seed Sinner, but Edmund – ranked down at 581 – took confidence from his performance.

“He’s just better than me,” said the Yorkshireman. “In terms of the matches I played on this trip, it’s probably my best one, even though the scoreline was not too much to show for that.

"There was a lot of improvement but also still lots of things to get better at.”

Dart led 32nd seed Jil Teichmann 4-2 with chances to go 5-2 ahead but from there won only two more games in a 7-5 6-1 loss.

The 26-year-old had to pull out of a tournament last week with a minor injury and was also frustrated not to have secured the services of a coach.

The Ukrainian ambassador to Australia, meanwhile, has condemned the display of a Russian flag at a first-round match at the Australian Open.

Vasyl Myroshnychenko tweeted a picture showing the Russian flag being held up by a spectator during the clash between Russian Kamilla Rakhimova and Kateryna Baindl of Ukraine.

Russian players are allowed to compete but only under a neutral flag.