Nadal, Federer advance to third round of Australian Open

Top-seeded Rafael Nadal and Swiss tennis ace Roger Federer have both advanced to the third round of the ongoing Australian Open on Thursday, amid a spate of withdrawals due to the searing heat.

The Spanish world number one smoothly beat Australian Thanasi Kokkinakis 6-2, 6-4, 6-2 in one hour and 53 minutes under the roof at Rod Laver Arena in a delayed scheduled at Melbourne Park, where temperatures hit 43 Celsius earlier and forced organizers to suspend matches on outer courts.

Meanwhile, the 17-time Major champion played his first Australian Open match away from Rod Laver Arena after ten years and beat Blaz Kavcic of Slovenia 6-2, 6-1, 7-6 (4) on Thursday to reach the third round at Melbourne Park.

The sixth-seeded Federer, who had played 63 matches in a row at Rod Laver Arena until being assigned to the secondary 10,000-seat Hisense Arena for his clash with Kavcic, has not played anywhere except the 15,000-seat center court since winning the first of four Australian Open titles in 2004, reports mentioned.