Nadal ousts Mahut to reach Miami quarter-finals
Rafael Nadal will face Jack Sock in the quarter-finals of the Miami Open after beating Nicolas Mahut in straight sets on Tuesday.
The 14-time grand slam champion recovered from the humiliation of a first-set bagel to see off Philipp Kohlschreiber in the third round and only needed two sets to defeat Mahut 6-4 7-6 (7-4).
Nadal was imperious on serve, not facing a single break point as he won 92 per cent of points on his first serve and made just 11 unforced errors in an impressive fourth-round display.
The fifth seed made a hugely concerning start to his 1000th career match against Kohlschreiber, but lost only four points on serve in the first set two days later.
Another day, another win…@RafaelNadal gets past a tricky Mahut!#MiamiOpen pic.twitter.com/oY7nPXgNeL
— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) March 28, 2017
Mahut was also solid on serve in the opener, but slipped up when he fired a forehand long to give Nadal the only break opportunity of the match and volleyed a backhand overhead into the net to go 5-4 down.
Nadal served out to go 1-0 ahead, but neither player was able to force a break in the second set of a tight contest between two vastly experienced players who had not played each other since back in 2011.
The unseeded Mahut had the edge when he secured the first mini-break to lead 2-1, but the Australian Open runner-up won the next four points and sealed his spot in the last eight with a rasping forehand winner.
