Defending champion Rafael Nadal remains on course at the US Open. The top seeded Spaniard needed 3:18 hours in the round of 16 against Georgian Nikoloz Basilashvili, until the 6:3, 6:3, 6:7 (6:8), 6:4 victory was wrapped up. Now the Austrian Dominic Thiem (No. 9) is waiting for Nadal in a new edition of the French Open Final.
Nadal dominated the match at Arthur Ashe Stadium, the world’s largest tennis arena (23,771 spectators), over long distances. At the 4:3 in the opening round, the left-hander used his second break point and shortly afterwards profited from a backhand return error of his opponent in the first set.
In the following two sets Nadal “Underdog” Basilashvili also took the serve early in a duel with many top-class rallies.
But in the third round the 26-year-old Georgian, who is coached by German Jan de Witt, fought back with world-class tennis and kept his cool after the 5-5 tiebreak when Nadal was only two points away from victory.
But the French Open record champion struck back and made eight of the first nine points at the start of the fourth round. Basilashvili, son of a ballet dancer and a doctor, held it in impressive fashion, but in the ominous seventh game the Hamburg winner took another break from which he never recovered. Rafa turned his first match point with the seventh ace.
Nadal is aiming for his fourth Paris-New-York combined victory in the Big Apple. Already in 2010, 2013 and just last year he had triumphed at the US Open about three months after his triumph in Roland Garros.
During his third round victory on Friday against the brilliant Russian Karen Khachanov, a little worried that “Rafa” had let himself be taped to the patella tendon under his right knee.
But the next day, the industry leader reappeared “bottomless” in training. Nadal has been plagued by knee problems for years, which get worse at the hard court tournaments.
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