Australian Open: Nadal through to quarters after crushing Fognini in straight sets

Former Australian Open champion Rafael Nadal cruised into the quarter-finals through an easy straight sets victory against Italian Fabio Fognini, 6-3, 6-4, 6-2. The match was one of the earlier attractions early on Monday at Melbourne Park, as the tournament moves into its second week.

Nadal last won the Australian Open way back in 2009, and is aiming to win again and extend his record to 21 Grand Slam titles and put Roger Federer behind him. However, the number two seed still has a long way to go before he can think about the title.

Nevertheless, the comfortable victory against Fognini is a sign of good things to come for the Spaniard. Winning in quick, easy matches will help Nadal be better prepared if he reaches the final, considering the fact that he had been nursing a back injury before the Australian Open. He will be trying to keep himself from exacerbating that injury if he wants to make it all the way until Sunday.

"I played a good game when he broke me and was lucky to have the break back immediately and save a game from love-40 so I was a bit lucky," said Nadal, as quoted by the BBC.

He further said that he was happy his back is "holding up."

He will have a full day to prepare for his next match on Wednesday, which will be against Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece or Italian Matteo Berrettini, who will be playing their fourth-round match later today. While Nadal is the favourite to advance, his opponent will have the advantage of youth. Nadal also says that when you reach the quarter-finals of a Grand Slam, you should expect that you will be facing a tough opponent.

On the other side of the draw, world number one Novak Djokovic is still lurking, but is also soldiering on despite an abdominal injury that had been plaguing him since last week.