Nadal brushes Khachanov aside to reach last 16

ajike July 8, 2017

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Rafael Nadal sailed into the fourth round at Wimbledon with a 6-1 6-4 7-6 (7-3) victory over Karen Khachanov on Friday.

The Spaniard is seeking to win back-to-back grand slams following his French Open masterclass and gave his Russian opponent no chance as he made a flying start on Centre Court.

The world number two found the third set less to his liking but he had too much for Khachanov in the tie-break after surviving a set point when he was serving at 6-5 down.

Nadal has not dropped a set at a grand slam since losing the Australian Open final to Roger Federer in January and reaches the last 16 at Wimbledon for only the third time since he last triumphed at the All England Club in 2010.

He will now face Gilles Muller for a place in the quarter-finals.

Khachanov won only one of the first 10 points as Nadal burst out of the blocks to open up a 3-0 lead, barely breaking into a sweat before the first change of ends.

The Nadal onslaught continued with another break of serve, the pumped-up Spaniard putting on a powerful display to which his Russian opponent had no answer in the opening stages.

There was a reprieve for Khachanov in the fifth game, when – out of nowhere – he broke Nadal to love to finally make an impression on the scoreboard, but Nadal restored his advantage with an instant reply.

A love service game wrapped up the opening set for Nadal, and Khachanov had to dig deep to kick off the second with a hold – his first of the match.

The 21-year-old was not so fortunate in his next service game, succumbing to a fourth break point, but a perfect game of four aces in his third showed some level of resolve.

It was not enough to knock Nadal off course, however, as he cruised to victory in the second set, but Khachanov made him work harder in the third.

Nadal was made to survive three break points before saving a set point with a delightful drop shot that had everyone fooled.

After eventually forcing the tie-break, Nadal was perfect on his own serve in the shoot-out and made the most of Khachanov’s unforced errors to prevail in straight sets.