• Spaniard dispatches Bolivia’s Hugo Dellien 6-2, 6-3, 6-0• Nadal insists he does not think about winning 20 major titles
Whether it is reasonable to sign up for Rafael Nadal’s repeated assertion that he does not lose sleep over passing Roger Federer’s record of 20 majors, it is easier to accept that Melbourne is the place where the Spaniard who is parked on 19 grand slam titles – 12 of them on clay – will find it hardest to do exactly that.
Nadal has won one
Australian Open title, epically in five sets against a prime Federer in 2009, and lost in four other finals: once against Federer,
Novak Djokovic twice, and in 2014 when Stan Wawrinka broke a career 12-0 duck against him to win the first of his three major titles and then show Melbourne that the Swiss know how to have a good time.