Ruthless Nadal romps past De Minaur at Open

Rafael Nadal hailed Alex de Minaur as "one of the best in the world" but still showed the teenager the Australian Open door 6-1, 6-2, 6-4 in the third round on Friday.

The relentless Spanish 17-time Grand Slam champion dragged the 19-year-old Australian 27th seed over every inch of Rod Laver Arena as he romped to victory in 2hr 22min.

The Spaniard limped out of last year's Australian Open at the quarter-final stage, cut short his 2018 season to have surgery on a foot injury and pulled out of his Brisbane warm-up with a thigh niggle.

But in the third competitive match of his comeback he was back to his barnstorming best with his all-action game hardly allowing his young rival a sniff.

De Minaur, to his eternal credit, did little wrong and never gave up the fight.

At fleeting moments he even had a glimmer of hope of applying the brakes to the runaway Nadal juggernaut, saving six match points -- one after chasing down ball after ball in a lung-bursting 24-shot rally.

"He is a big fighter. Probably he is the fastest on the tour," Nadal said after the match.

"That match point saved was unbelievable.

"I think I played a very solid match and I want to congratulate Alex for a great start to the season. I think he has an amazing future."