Few things have come easily for Novak Djokovic in these early days of his 21st grand slam season, but the most successful player in the history of the game continued his attempts to build momentum on an incredibly familiar court, Rod Laver Arena, and trust with his extremely unfamiliar new coach, Andy Murray. Despite a difficult test against a fearless, young opponent, Djokovic shut the door on Jaime Faria, a qualifier, as he reached the third round of the Australian Open with a 6-1, 6-7 (4), 6-3, 6-2 win.

By stepping onto Rod Laver Arena on Wednesday afternoon, Djokovic set a new record for the most grand slam matches played in the history of tennis, overtaking his former rival Roger Federer’s count with 430 matches. “When I was a kid, the first image I had of tennis was watching the Wimbledon final at four or five years old,” said Djokovic. “Grand slams are definitely the most important tournament in the world in our sport, it has been over 130 years of existence of this incredible event. I’m just blessed to be making another record, I guess, today.”

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Two days after struggling early on against his inexperienced-19 year-old opponent Nishesh Basavareddy, a wildcard, before breaking the American down physically, Djokovic found himself up against another talented young player in Faria, a Portuguese 21-year-old also competing in the main draw of a grand slam tournament for the first time. Faria arrived at the biggest match of his life after navigating the qualifying draw last week, then securing a comfortable straight-sets win in his first round match.

After an efficient start from Djokovic, throughout the second set Faria showed off his massive serve, destructive forehand and solid athleticism as he led by 5-2 before winning the second set with a strong tiebreak. Djokovic responded well, wresting control of the baseline in the third set as Faria failed to maintain his second set intensity. By the end of the match Djokovic was in a jovial mood, sharing jokes with Murray and the rest of his courtside team and blowing a kiss towards the crowd as he comfortably closed out the fourth set.

“In the wise words of Mr Daniil Medvedev: ‘If the future generation played this way, they’re gonna have everything – money, girls, casino.’ I just loved that statement, I had to say it,” said Djokovic, laughing. “He [Faria] was playing lights-out tennis, I think. Towards the end of the second set, beginning of the third. I had to weather the storm, he was practically serving two first serves the entire match. Not easy to play someone like that who doesn’t have anything to lose. He’s a big guy, very young, I think 20 or 21 years old, so I told him at the net that the future is bright, he should keep going.”

Earlier in the day, Carlos Alcaraz eased into the third round with his second clean, efficient performance of the tournament, demolishing Yoshihito Nishioka of Japan 6-0, 6-1, 6-4 in just 81 minutes. Alcaraz, who changed his service motion during the off-season, served 14 aces and lost just four points behind his first serve. After the victory, Alcaraz signed the camera screen: “Am I a servebot?”

In the women’s draw, Naomi Osaka produced arguably the biggest victory since her return from maternity leave as she returned to the third round of a grand slam tournament for the first time since her comeback with a brilliant 1-6, 6-1, 6-3 win over Karolína Muchová, the 20th seed.

After losing the first five games of the encounter, Osaka responded by playing two focused, high quality sets, serving brilliantly and dominating the baseline with her typically destructive, relentless ballstriking. While Osaka has beaten higher-ranked opponents since returning at the beginning of last year, Muchová has been one of the best players in the world since returning from a major wrist injury last summer and she had defeated Osaka en route to the US Open semi-finals last year. Osaka will next face Belinda Bencic, who recently returned from maternity leave herself and reached the third round in her first major tournament back with a 6-1, 7-6(3) win over Suzan Lamens.

“I love it,” said Osaka. “I love playing the big opponents. I think that’s where I play my best tennis. Honestly for me, if I play better and better opponents as the rounds go on, I think it’s more interesting because I feel like it’s like the clash of two titans almost. I think the fans probably appreciate it, and I also appreciate it as a player.”

Zheng Qinwen, the Olympic champion and last year’s Australian Open finalist suffered the biggest upset of the tournament so far as the fifth seed was defeated 7-6 (3), 6-3 by Laura Siegemund of Germany. Aryna Sabalenka, the top seed and defending champion, advanced to round three with a gritty 6-3, 7-5 win over Jessica Bouzas Maneiro of Spain.