Nadal battles past a fatigued Draper to begin Australian Open campaign in Melbourne

Rafael Nadal got off much easier than he thought against Jack Draper as the British player paid the price for playing quite a bit of tennis leading up to this event 7-5 2-6 6-4 6-1 at the Australian Open.

Draper played a semi-final last week and it's left him a bit fatigued for this one. The biggest issue for him was his legs that started to cramp up in the third set. The first one was a great set of tennis as neither player allowed much. Nadal missed a break point chance midway through to remain calm to take it late 7-5.

The second set saw a major bounce-back from Draper who smashed Nadal 6-2 with some aggressive play that Nadal wasn't able to withstand. The Spaniard had 14 unforced errors in that one and it was too much. The 3rd set saw the start of Draper issues as he started to cramp up and Nadal quickly jumped out to a 4-1 lead.

Incredibly Draper battled back to make it 4-4 but eventually, he wasn't able heavy pressure from Nadal who finished it off 6-4. The next set saw Draper once again struggle with his legs despite taking an early break. Nadal then won five games in a row to take a 5-1 lead. He then closed it out 6-1 to secure the second round.

A good match from Nadal who proved in better shape than the youngster. He also posted 41 winners but also 46 unforced errors as he looked to exploit Draper's struggle.