Nadal recovers from slow start

World number two Rafael Nadal overcame a slow start to down Gilles Simon and book his place in the fourth round of the Australian Open with a 7-5 6-2 6-3 victory at the Rod Laver Arena on Friday.

Nadal dropped his first service game to hand Simon a 2-0 lead, an advantage the Frenchman retained until the latter stages of the set when the three-time French Open champion cranked up the pressure.

The Spaniard saw off three set points before breaking back to take the score to 4-5 and, after holding his own serve, broke his opponent again to take the upper hand for the first time.

However, the second seed was forced to battle to hold on to his own serve but eventually did so to close out the set 7-5 before racing into a 4-0 lead in the next as Simon wilted.

Nadal eventually took it 6-2 and, although Simon picked up his performance in the third set, there was little doubt about the outcome.

Nadal will now face the winner of the clash between Stefan Koubek and Paul-Henri Mathieu in the fourth round.