The last British player standing Cameron Norrie came from a set down to win in four over Russian qualifier Roman Safiullin.
The match started on Court Eight where the world No 69 looked in trouble in the early stages but recovered to take the next two sets before rain interrupted play.
The match was then moved onto the Margaret Court Arena where Norrie’s momentum continued as he managed to seal a 3-6, 7-5, 6-3, 7-6 (7-3) victory in three hours and 31 minutes.
His reward for reaching the third round is a match-up against tennis legend Rafael Nadal.
Despite the draw being made last week, Norrie insisted he hadn’t looked ahead to the potential match-up: ‘For someone like me, I only saw it yesterday, I didn’t really look that far ahead, I was playing a tough first and second round and I managed to get through that.
‘I’ve never played him before so it’ll definitely be a great match and a great experience for me and I can’t wait to get out there and show him what I’ve got.’
The Spaniard is in search of a record-breaking 21st Grand Slam title and took little time to progress through to the next round dispatching American wildcard Michael Mmoh 6-1, 6-4, 6-2 on Rod Laver Arena.
The 34-year-old eased worries about his fitness having withdrawn from the ATP Cup due to a stiff lower back and hit 40 winners in a dominant display which lasted just one hour and 47 minutes.
Elsewhere, Stefanos Tsitsipas survived a scare against Australian wildcard Thanasi Kokkinakis, coming back from a set down to eventually win in the fifth and final set after four hours and 32 minutes on court.
The 16th seed Fabio Fognini who is also no stranger to fifth-set drama, survived a match point in the final-set tie-breaker before eventually overcoming his fellow Italian Salvatore Caruso.
Another Italian and ninth-seed Matteo Berretini required four sets to progress into the next round, but there were no such troubles for the Russian pair Daniil Medvedev and Andrey Rublev with both easing through with straight-sets victories over their respective opponents.
The woman’s draw saw the last remaining Brit Heather Watson fall in three sets to the 21st seed Anett Kontaveit, despite the world No 60 taking the first set via a tie-break.
Reigning women’s champion Sofia Kenin failed to control her anxiety and crashed out of the tournament with a straight-sets defeat to world No 65 Kaia Kanepi.
World No 1 and home favourite Ashleigh Barty suffered no such drama in pursuit of her first Australian Open title with straight sets win over fellow her compatriot Daria Gavrilova.
Elina Svitolina, Karolina Pliskova and Elise Mertens all also eased into the next round with straight-sets victories.
