As the match wore on, and Nadal’s hip injury became more troublesome, McDonal said his did his best to focus on what was happening on his side of the net, while trying not to get overwhelmed by the prospect of his best-ever win by ranking against the all-time great.
“I feel like when he was kind of hurt there in the third, it made me think a little bit more about the match and stuff and about myself and the game, which I was executing and playing so well in the first couple of sets,” McDonald said. “So I hate that for him. I hope he feels better.”
McDonald is now 2-13 against Top 10 players in his career, and he will next play No. 31 seed Yoshihito Nishioka. He looks to reach the fourth round of the Australian Open for a second time, having first done so in 2021. But after his best career win, he says he remains focused on the business at hand.
“I was in the locker room, and I was, like, ‘Hey, that’s actually really big for me because I haven’t beaten someone of that caliber,’ McDonald said. “But honestly for me right now, which I think is good because I feel like I’ve matured in this sense, I don’t feel like much has changed. I’m going to keep going about how I’m doing things. I think I’m working really well with my coach.
“Even there I feel like I can take some learning lessons away from that match. I’m grateful I had that opportunity to play on that court and play against him, and I feel like I can just learn from it. … There’s another match to be played, so I have to refocus.”
Elsewhere on Wednesday, No. 16 seed Tiafoe and No. 29 seed Sebastian Korda also reached Round 3, while four U.S. men (Maxime Cressy, Brandon Holt, Denis Kudla and Michael Mmoh) finished off first-round victories that had been carried over from Tuesday due to rain. The rest of the American men still alive in the draw, including No.9 seed Fritz, play on Thursday.
Gauff beats Raducanu under the lights; Collins survives again in 1 a.m. thriller
On the women’s side, Coco Gauff also achieved a milestone in a 6-3, 7-6(4) win over 2021 US Open champion Emma Raducanu. The 1 hour, 42-minute Round 2 win was the 100th WTA-level main-draw victory of her young career.
Gauff looked on course for a straight-sets win by building a 6-3, 4-2 lead in Rod Laver Arena’s featured women’s match of the night session, but she lost three straight games from that point and even had to save two set points in the 10th game.