Nick Kyrgios's new-found calm remained intact despite a night of bizarre distractions as the fiery home favourite outplayed Serbia's Viktor Troicki to reach the Australian Open third round without conceding a set on Wednesday.
The 17th seed dealt with a heckling spectator, a malfunctioning umpire's microphone and was even distracted by a helicopter hovering overhead but remained in control to claim an impressive 7-5 6-4 7-6(2) victory.
A year after the 22-year-old was jeered by home fans after surrendering a two-set lead against Italian Andreas Seppi to crash out in the second round, he produced more evidence that a run deep into the second week is possible.
His idol, Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, the 2008 Australian Open runner-up, is next up for Kyrgios who is trying to become the first home men's champion since Mark Edmondson in 1976.
The 31-year-old Troicki provided a useful gauge of Kyrgios's form and fitness, but it was the Australian's relative calmness in the face of chaos that stood out.
He was already a set in front when a fan decided to make a name for himself by standing up in the front row in the Hisense Arena and began bellowing "Oh Yeahhhhhh" while filming himself before being ejected.
A couple of games later a red helicopter hovered above the court, drowning out the sound of the ball being struck.
All that on top of the umpire's microphone making strange noises which prompted Kyrgios to describe events as "a circus".
There was plenty of chuntering from Kyrgios but apart from "freaking out" after a late lapse when he dropped serve at 5-4 in the third, he stuck diligently to his task.
Rafael Nadal withstood a spirited performance from Leonardo Mayer to progress.
The world number one was not as dominant as in his first-round win over Victor Estrella Burgos but that had a lot to do with the performance of Argentinian Mayer, who refused to allow Nadal to pull away.
There was no real question of Mayer threatening an upset, as he had briefly at the US Open last summer when he won the first set of their third-round clash before Nadal's game clicked into gear.
But he showed good resistance to break the Nadal serve when the Spaniard served for the match before going down 6-3 6-4 7-6 (7/4).
Nadal said: "It's an important victory for me, a tough opponent. Leonardo is a player with big potential, he hits the ball so strong. I had to hit some great shots in the tie-break.
"I'm happy to be in the third round. For my team and my family this tournament is the favourite of the year so I want to stay as long as possible."
In the last 32, Nadal will face 28th seed Damir Dzumhur from Bosnia, who defeated Australian John Millman 7-5 3-6 6-4 6-1.
.@RafaelNadal was very thankful of the @RodLaverArena crowd support in his post-match interview.#AusOpen pic.twitter.com/fWyXbaxOMu
— #AusOpen (@AustralianOpen) January 17, 2018
