'I haven't seen Rafa taking the ball as early as he's doing these days,' said Wilander

World no. 2 Rafael Nadal is through to the Australian Open third round following two convincing victories over Laslo Djere and Michael Mmoh in under two hours.

Struggling with a back injury, Nadal had to embrace an aggressive approach and try to finish the points as quickly as possible and save energy for the upcoming rounds. Delivering one good hold after another, Rafa lost serve only once against Djere and didn't offer Mmoh anything on the return, controlling the pace on both serve and return to sail into the last 32. Mats Wilander is pleased with the way Nadal has played so far, enjoying his aggressive approach and backing the 20-time Major winner to keep it up in the same style.

"I haven't seen Rafa taking the ball as early as he's doing these days; he's trying to shorten the points. Is it because the courts are playing a bit quicker? Novak Djokovic said the other day it's the fastest they have ever played. It could also be because Nadal's back is a little sore, and he needs to be on top of the ball. I'm not sure, but I enjoyed seeing him playing like this.

Sometimes, when he delivers an aggressive approach, you wonder why he didn't play like that from an earlier stage of his career. He is doing that at the moment, and it's so far so good for him," Mats Wilander said.