Rafael Nadal races past Florian Mayer to keep hopes of Novak Djokovic semi-final clash alive at Australian Open

Nadal eased into the second round with a 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 victory to set-up a second round clash with Marcos Baghdatis

Rafael Nadal celebrates his straight-sets victory over Florian Mayer in the Australian Open first round (Getty)

Rafael Nadal had to apologise for his Mallorcan time-keeping but there was nothing sloppy about the Spaniard's tennis as he swept aside Florian Mayer to reach the Australian Open second round.

After defeating Mayer 6-3 6-4 6-4 on Rod Laver Arena, Nadal came into his press conference staring at his watch.

“I was checking how late I am,” he said. “I am always late. In Mallorca, there is a thing, only when we are going we say, 'I am coming'. It is tough to be 100 per cent on time on an island.”

Time may be running out for the 30-year-old to claim his 15th grand slam title but Nadal is among the contenders here in the bottom half of the draw, where he is due to meet Milos Raonic in the quarter-finals and Novak Djokovic in the semis.

For now, however, he is recovering rhythm and confidence following another comeback from injury and he was a convincing victor against Mayer, the 33-year-old German ranked 49th in the world.

Nadal hit 39 winners in total and was never broken in the match, with his first serve finding its mark an impressive 70 per cent of the time. He will now face another veteran in Cyprus' Marcos Baghdatis.

“I think I played solid match, no?” Nadal said. “I am happy the way I am playing. I had good weeks of practice. It is never easy the first round, always little bit more nerves at the beginning. I didn't play against an easy opponent.

“The way that he plays is not a conventional game. He changes a lot of the rhythm of the point, you know, changing with a slice, then he hit a winner, then he play little bit slower ball. It is not easy to read his game so I am just happy the way that I played.”

Nadal ended last season early in a bid to overcome the wrist injury that hampered him for most of the year, but after an encouraging week in Brisbane earlier this month, he has started well in Melbourne.

Nadal is mounting his latest return from injury after missing the end of the 2016 season (Getty)

“It's about getting back to confidence. It's important,” Nadal said. “When you are playing and playing and winning matches, the things become very automatic.

“You don't need to think much about the things that are happening or the way that you played points.

“But when you are out for a while, you need to recover all these automatic things that make you play easier. That's the important thing.”

Djokovic and Raonic both made it through, with Raonic cruising past German Dustin Brown 6-3 6-4 6-2 and Djokovic beating Fernando Verdasco 6-1 7-6 (7/4) 6-2.

Djokovic had fended off five match points against Verdasco in Doha two weeks ago but the number two seed endured no such problems this time against a difficult first opponent.

Novak Djokovic did not experience the same difficulties against Fernando Verdasco this time around (Getty)

“It was good that I got to have the very tough first-round match,” Djokovic said.

“It made me prepare better and kind of approach this match and the tournament with the right intensity, right out from the blocks, right from the first point.”

Croatia's Ivo Karlovic won the longest fifth set in the history of Australian Open singles to beat Horacio Zeballos 6-7 (6/8) 3-6 7-5 6-2 22-20.

Karlovic delivered 75 aces, which also smashed the tournament's previous record of 51 set by Thomas Johansson in 2005.

Belgium's 11th seed David Goffin had to work hard for his progress as he trailed American Reilly Opelka 4-3 in the fifth set before winning 6-4 4-6 6-2 4-6 6-4.​

PA