Rafael Nadal met his strongest challenge of the championship at the Australian Open on Friday - and brushed it aside with comparative ease.
Nadal took less than two hours to account for Slovakia's Lukas Lacko 6-2 6-4 6-2 and advance to the fourth round of the Open for the sixth time.
As one-sided as the scoreline turned out to be, Nadal had to fight for his points early in the match.
Having broken Lacko's serve in the opening game, the second seed relinquished his first service game and then had to withstand heavy pressure to hold his second.
"Even 6-2 in the first set was a tough one,'' Nadal said.