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MELBOURNE, Australia -- Rafael Nadal dropped to his knees, clasping his hands tightly and appearing to be on the verge of tears as he celebrated a win at the Australian Open. The 14-time Grand Slam champion has played some epic matches at Rod Laver Arena, including an almost-six-hour final. This was a second-round comeback win over U.S. qualifier Tim Smyczek, a player ranked No. 112 who had never beaten a top-10 player. But the 6-2, 3-6, 6-7 (2), 6-3, 7-5 win Wednesday was a breakthrough of sorts for the third-seeded Nadal, who came into the first major of the season after playing just four tournaments since Wimbledon due to a right wrist injury and appendix surgery. At the end of the third game of the third set, Nadal called for assistance and was given medication for stomach pain. At times in the match he was doubled over in pain, seemingly on the verge of sickness or exhaustion. Yet he pulled through, earning the only break of the fifth set in the 11th game and then serving it out -- after wasting three match points -- in 4 hours, 12 minutes. Smyczek pushed Nadal to the limits, and played fair. Seving at 6-5 in the fifth set, a spectator shouted just as the Spaniard was about to make contact with his first serve, causing him to miss long. As Nadal glared into the stands, Smyczek insisted that Nadal retake the first serve. Nadal did -- and won the point. "Very tough night for me. Just first of all I want to congratulate Tim -- he's a real gentleman," Nadal said. "What he did in the last game is ... not a lot of people will do something like this at 6-5 in the fifth set."  Smyczek, a soft-spoken 27-year-old from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, never questioned doing the sporting thing. "I don't know if the guy didn't know (Nadal) was tossing the ball or not, but it clearly bothered him," he said, looking down and smiling sheepishly. "You know, I thought it was the right thing to do." Ranked 112th in the world, Smyczek, who toils for most of the season on the second-tier Challenger circuit, had never beaten a top-10 player. His previous best win was against No. 19 Jurgen Melzer at a tournament in Delray Beach, Florida, in 2012. He played Nadal without fear, racing out to a two-sets-to-one lead behind his pin-point serve -- he finished with 15 aces -- and a huge forehand that he used to hit 28 of his 64 winners. "I had a good game plan going in. The most important thing I thought was for me to try and stay within myself," Smyczek said. "I didn't really struggle with nerves too much just because I got nothing to lose." Nadal wasn't the only top player needing medical advice Wednesday. Roger Federer dropped the first set and needed medical advice on his sore right pinkie finger -- scolding a camera operator by saying, "Do you have to be that close?" -- before beating Simone Bolelli 3-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-2 to reach the third round. "It felt like a bee stung me. I was like, 'This can't be possible -- I never had this pain before.' It was disturbing me," said Federer, a four-time Australian Open champion. "I knew that to tape it wasn't an option." For Smyczek, it's now back to the minor leagues, with the goal of lifting his ranking into the top 100 so he doesn't have to qualify for the Slams anymore. He's supposed to play a challenger in Hawaii next week, but he may take a week off to rest after his performance in Melbourne. "It's definitely not going to be the same as playing a night session on Rod Laver," he said. "It's just part of the deal with being ranked 100 in the world. You've got to do it." Three-time finalist Andy Murray didn't let the parochial crowds in Margaret Court Arena bother him as he beat Australian Marinko Matosevic 6-1, 6-3, 6-2, while No. 10 Grigor Dimitrov beat Lukas Lacko 6-3, 6-7 (10), 6-3, 6-3. Matosevic's first-round opponent, Alexander Kudryavtsev, accused boisterous Australian fans of behaving like "animals" after he lost in five sets to the Melbourne resident. After Wednesday's match, Murray laughed as he said: "It was a fun atmosphere to play today. Even if not everyone was supporting me." Murray has a perfect 10-0 record against Australian players. "I love Aussies. I get on well with a lot of the players from Australia," the Scottish star said. "Sometimes it's just luck. I'm sure in the next few years, with the players the Aussies have coming through ... I won't be able to hold onto that record much longer." Seventh-seeded Tomas Berdych advanced with a 7-6 (0), 6-2, 6-2 win over Austrian qualifier Jurgen Melzer, moving into the third round along with No. 14 Kevin Anderson and No. 24 Richard Gasquet. Berdych, a Wimbledon finalist in 2010, lost to eventual champion Stan Wawrinka in the semifinals last year at Melbourne Park, where he has reached the quarterfinals or better ever since 2011. Seven of the men's seeds were beaten Wednesday. Among them, 2006 Australian Open finalist Marcos Baghdatis took down No. 20 David Goffin 6-1, 6-4, 4-6, 6-0. Australian teenager Nick Kyrgios -- who was a wild card ranked No. 144 when he beat Nadal in the fourth round at Wimbledon last year -- ousted No. 23 Ivo Karlovic in a four-set match featuring a combined 65 aces, 40 by the loser. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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