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American Mackenzie McDonald (pictured) upset No. 1 Rafael Nadal of Spain in the second round of the 2023 Australian Open on Wednesday in Melbourne. Photo by James Ross/EPA-EFE
Jan. 18 (UPI) — American Mackenzie McDonald upset an injured Rafael Nadal to highlight Day 3 of the 2023 Australian Open on Wednesday in Melbourne. Women’s top seed Iga Swiatek advanced with a straight-sets, second-round victory. Nadal dealt with a left hip injury throughout his match. The Spaniard struggled to move in his typical fashion, allowing McDonald to earn points with powerful serves and returns. Advertisement
“I’m really happy with how I started that match,” McDonald told ESPN in an on-court interview. “I thought I was playing pretty well. … I was really taking it to him. I hated that [injury] for him in the third set. It was tough to stay mentally engaged, but I found a way to pull it out.”
McDonald won the 2-hour, 32-minute match 6-4, 6-4, 7-5. He totaled 14 aces and 42 winners and converted 5 of 8 break points. Nadal, the top seed, totaled six aces and 42 winners and converted 2 of 4 break points.
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Nadal left the court for a medical timeout, but said he didn’t want to quit the match a year after winning the title. He told reporters he was injured in the third set and that the felt hip soreness in recent days.
“I lost the match,” Nadal said. “That’s it. I tried until the end. I don’t know that if good condition, I would have won the match. I would have had a better chance, without a doubt.”
McDonald, who has never advanced past the fourth round of a major, will meet No. 31 Yoshihito Nishioka of Japan in the third round. Nishioka beat Dalibor Svrcina of the Czech Republic in straight sets in his second-round match.
No. 3 Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece, No. 6 Felix Auger-Aliassime of Canada, No. 7 Daniil Medvedev of Russia, No. 15 Jannik Sinner of Italy, No. 16 Frances Tiafoe of the United States and no. 18 Karen Khachanov of Russia were among the other top-seeded men to advance on Day 3.
Americans Brandon Holt, Denis Kudla, Maxime Cressy and Michael Mmoh also advanced.
On the women’s side, Swiatek needed just 84 minutes to oust Colombian Camila Osorio. The Polish tennis star fired 19 winners and converted 6 of 8 break point opportunities in the 6-2, 6-3 win. Swiatek will face Spaniard Cristina Bucsa in the third round.
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Bucsa edged 2019 U.S. Open champion Bianca Andreescu of Canada 2-6, 7-6(7), 6-4.
Americans Jessica Pegula (No. 3), Cori “Coco” Gauff (No. 7), Madison Keys (No. 10), Lauren Davis and Claire Liu advanced. No. 6 Maria Sakkari of Greece, No. 17 Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia and No. 20 Barbora Krejcikova of the Czech Republic were among the other top women’s seeds to win on Day 3.
Gauff, a 2022 French Open finalist, knocked off 2021 U.S. Open champion Emma Raducanu of England in straight sets.
Russian Varvaara Gracheva edged No. 8 Daria Kasatkina of Russia and Spaniard Nuria Parrizas-Diaz beat No. 14 Beatriz Haddad Maia in two first-round upsets. Those matches were pushed back to Wednesday due to Tuesday’s extreme weather conditions.