Nadal, who got a first-round bye, defeated Richard Gasquet 6-3, 6-4 to advance.
A summary of sports events and persons who made news on Sunday
Simona Halep and Stan Wawrinka beat the heat with straight-sets wins to reach the third round of a sweltering US Open on Thursday while American hope Jack Sock wilted under the punishing conditions, collapsing on court.
The Women's Tennis Association, which has turned to Asia to grow its sport, is unclear how the International Tennis Premier League is going to pan out. 'We are still learning about it, just as the world and the media is,' said Melissa Pines, Vice-President, Asia-Pacific, on the sidelines of its new announcement to bring the season-ending BNP Paribas WTA Championships to South East Asia for the first time this year.
Images from the Australian Open matches played on Tuesday.
A summary of sports events and sports persons, who made news on Wednesday
Psychologists have become a more established presence on the tennis tour, with top players like Andy Murray and Petra Kvitova espousing the benefits.
Kei Nishikori swept aside Rafael Nadal in the quarter-finals of the Rogers Cup.
Reigning French Open champion Maria Sharapova, former world number one Venus Williams and Australian Samantha Stosur sailed into the second round of the China Open with straight set victories on Sunday.
An air of calm descended at Wimbledon on 'Tranquil Thursday' as Novak Djokovic and Serena Williams avoided the trail of destruction that had decimated the field at the All England Club on day three of the grasscourt major.
Swiss teenager Belinda Bencic capped a brilliant run to the Rogers Cup title on Sunday.
Fifth seed Juan Martin Del Potro, whose match was shunted back to the late evening by the disruptions, was the first major casualty of the men's draw when he lostto 62nd ranked Spaniard Roberto Bautista at the Australian Open.
Dani Alves has blamed the media for Brazil's unsuccessful World Cup campaign but conceded that the team did not prepare properly ahead of the humiliating 7-1 defeat by Germany in the semi-final.
The ATP issued the latest men's tennis rankings on Monday and the top 10 list remains unchanged with Serbian tennis ace Novak Djokovic still leading the rankings.
Former FIFA official Jerome Champagne formally announced on Monday that he will stand against incumbent Sepp Blatter in next year's election for president of the world soccer body.
Swiss qualifier Timea Bacsinszky continued to swipe past the seeds at the Wuhan Open on Wednesday by dumping World No 4 Maria Sharapova from the hard court tournament with a 7-6(3), 7-5 victory.
US Open champions Marin Cilic and Serena Williams kicked off their China Open campaigns with straight sets victories against battling underdogs on Monday, but Rafael Nadal suffered defeat in a rare doubles outing on his return from injury.