Rafael Nadal surges through to Australian Open last 16

RAFAEL NADAL made light work of his Australian Open third round tie against Damir Dzumhur as he stormed to a 6-1 6-3 6-1 victory.

The Bosnian struggled all morning against the 31-year-old top seed and found himself 5-0 down quickly into the first set.

Dzumhur managed to retain one of his service games, but offered 16 break points while up against constant pressure from the Spaniard.

It was much of the same in the following sets as the ATP World Number One cruised through in just one hour and 50 minutes to make the last 16 in Melbourne for the 11th time.

Following the victory the Spaniard, who is yet to drop a set in the tournament so far, told the media: “Here I am. I am in the fourth round. That’s because I am doing the right things. Let’s see how far I can go.” 

Nadal will now face Argentine Diego Schwartzman in the next round in his quest for his second Australian Open title.

If he gets past Schwartzman and all goes as suspected, his seeded route will see the Spaniard meet Marin Cilic at the quarter-final stage, before a suspected last-four tie against Grigor Dimitrov before a touted final against Swiss legend Roger Federer.