MELBOURNE: The heat wasn’t a factor for Rafael Nadal this time against Damir Dzumhur, despite the searing temperature causing trouble for players earlier on Friday at the Australian Open.

Nadal reached the fourth round in Australia for the 11th time with the 6-1, 6-3, 6-1 win, and levelled his career head-to-head record with Dzumhur.

“I was very, very focused,” Nadal said. “I’m very happy with everything and to have another chance on Sunday.”

His fellow French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko followed Nadal’s match on Margaret Court Arena but didn’t make it through to the second week, losing 6-3, 1-6, 6-3 to 32nd-seeded Anett Kontaveit.

The seventh-seeded Ostapenko’s loss left only two major winners in the women’s draw and only one of them can reach the fourth round.

Five-time major winner Maria Sharapova and former Australian and US Open champion Angelique Kerber are playing each other Saturday.

Nadal — who next faces Diego Schwartzman, who beat Aleksandr Dolgopolov 6-7 (1-7), 6-2, 6-3, 6-3 — had lost his only previous meeting against Dzumhur, when he had to retire because of heat-related issues in the third set at Miami in 2016.

The 16-time major winner was playing on the number two venue at Melbourne Park, moved across while home favourite Nick Kyrgios ousted Jo-Wilfried Tsonga with a hard-fought 7-6 (7-5), 4-6, 7-6 (8-6), 7-6 (7-5) win.

Kyrgios and his childhood idol Tsonga played out a classic match with the 22-year-old Australian maintaining his composure on Rod Laver Arena to seal a spot in the last 16.

The 17th seed will face world number three Grigor Dimitrov next, following the Bulgarian’s 6-3, 4-6, 6-4, 6-4victory over Andrey Rublev as temperatures touched 40 Celsius (104 Fahrenheit).

“These are the most important matches for me, when things are not working for me and I find a way,” he said. “I’m feeling good physically, the heat didn’t scare me at all today, so that’s a good sign.”

Women’s world number two Caroline Wozniacki and fourth seed Elina Svitolina also eased to third round wins at Melbourne Park along with Slovakia’s Magdalena Rybarikova, Spaniard Carla Suarez Navarro and Belgian Elise Mertens.

Wozniacki has not impressed so far, but she put in a better performance to beat Dutch 30th seed Kiki Bertens 6-4, 6-3 while Svitolina ended 15-year-old Ukrainian compatriot Marta Kostyuk’s run with a 6-2, 6-2 victory.

In a tournament shorn of seeds, 81st-ranked Petra Martic also swept into the round of 16, celebrating her 27th birthday by holding off a gritty three-set challenge from Thai qualifier Luksika Kumkhum.

Her reward is a match against Mertens, who beat struggling Alize Cornet of France 7-5, 6-4 in two tough sets.

Cornet was among players wilting in the heat, with a doctor taking her blood pressure early in the second set as she succumbed to the baking weather.

Meanwhile, sixth-seed Marin Cilic, Briton Kyle Edmund, Italian Andreas Seppi and Spanish 10th seed Pablo Carreno Busta also progressed to the fourth round of the men’s draw.

Friday’s results (prefix number denotes seeding):

Men’s singles:

Third round: 1-Rafael Nadal (Spain) bt 28-Damir Dzumhur (Bosnia and Herzegovina) 6-1 6-3 6-1; 24-Diego Schwartzman (Argentina) bt Alexandr Dolgopolov (Ukraine) 6-7 (1-7), 6-2, 6-3, 6-3; 10-Pablo Carreno Busta (Spain) bt 23-Gilles Muller (Luxembourg) 7-6 (7-4), 4-6, 7-5, 7-5; 6-Marin Cilic (Croatia) bt Ryan Harrison (US) 7-6 (7-4), 6-3, 7-6 (7-4); 3-Grigor Dimitrov (Bulgaria) bt 30-Andrey Rublev (Russia) 6-3, 4-6, 6-4, 6-4; 17-Nick Kyrgios (Australia) bt 15-Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 7-6 (7-5), 4-6, 7-6 (8-6), 7-6 (7-5); Kyle Edmund (Great Britain) bt Nikoloz Basilashvili (Georgia) 7-6 (7-0), 3-6, 4-6, 6-0, 7-5; Andreas Seppi (Italy) bt Ivo Karlovic (Croatia) 6-3, 7-6 (7-4), 6-7 (3-7), 6-7 (5-7), 9-7.

Women’s singles:

Third round: Denisa Allertova (Czech Republic) bt Magda Linette (Poland) 6-1, 6-4; 4-Elina Svitolina (Ukraine) bt Marta Kostyuk (Ukraine) 6-2, 6-2; Elise Mertens (Belgium) bt Alize Cornet (France) 7-5, 6-4; Petra Martic (Croatia) bt Luksika Kumkhum (Thailand) 6-3, 3-6, 7-5; 19-Magdalena Rybarikova (Slovakia) bt Kateryna Bondarenko (Ukraine) 7-5, 3-7, 6-1; Carla Suarez Navarro (Spain) bt Kaia Kanepi (Estonia) 3-6, 6-1, 6-3; 32-Anett Kontaveit (Estonia) bt 7-Jelena Ostapenko (Latvia) 6-3, 1-6, 6-3; 2-Caroline Wozniacki (Denmark) bt 30-Kiki Bertens (Netherlands) 6-4, 6-3.

Published in Dawn, January 20th, 2018