Barty completes 37-year Aus Open first

Spanish No.2 seed Rafael Nadal has delivered the news that his rivals would not want to hear, revealing that his troublesome back is improving in the second week of the tournament.

Speaking after moving into the quarter-finals following a 6-3 6-4 6-2 win over 16th seed Fabio Fognini, Nadal gave a short glimpse into his health status.

“I’m happy that my back is holding up better. Tomorrow is going to be an important day of practice again,” he said.

“Hopefully I will be able to build well and let’s see if I am able to play a good match.”

Despite the scoreline looking relatively routine for the 34-year-old, he admitted that he had been “lucky” to escape from the second set unscathed.

“You can’t expect to go on the court and not have problems during the match. In the second set, I don’t think I played a good game,” he said.

“When he broke me, I was lucky to have the break back immediately and then I saved a love-40, that was the key.

“During these couple of games I was a little bit lucky to be able to have the score 5-4 for me and serving. From 3-2 in the second set to 5-4 he was much better than me.”

Nadal’s next quarter-final will be the 43rd time he has reached the final eight of a Grand Slam in his illustrious career and he is set to face either No.6 seed Stefanos Tsitsipas or No.9 seed Matteo Berrettini.