Rafael Nadal advanced to the fourth round of the US Open after defeating Richard Gasquet, 6-0, 6-1, 7-5, moving him closer to his goal of winning a third Grand Slam title in 2022.
This was Nadal’s best game of the tournament, according to him. He asserted that he has improved but that he must continue to work hard.
“It’s a good victory for me,” Nadal said. “Straight sets for the first time. Third set [was] a challenge. He increased the level.”
Furthermore, despite numerous hurdles, there were silver linings.
“That I went through that and [was] safe [in those] moments with positive feelings,” Nadal added. “Happy to be in the fourth round, without a doubt.”
Nose injury
This victory proves that Nadal is not affected by a nose injury that he received during a game against Fabio Fognini on Thursday night.
When Nadal was leading 3-0 in the fourth set, he accidentally smacked his nose with his own racket and quickly put it down before walking over to his bench.
At first, Nadal thought he had fractured his nose, but it was only a cut. He still bled considerably, therefore his medical staff promptly wrapped up his nose so he could carry on playing.
After his victory, reporters asked if Nadal was okay.
“Yeah, little bit dizzy at the beginning, little bit painful,” Nadal said. “The nose is still there.”
Nadal said that he had once hit his nose with a golf club, but this was the first time he has done it with a tennis racket. Later, Nadal gave an update about his injury on Instagram by showing his nose bandage.
On Friday, he was seen wearing a bandage on his nose when he arrived at the practice. However, his nose was no longer bandaged in his game against Gasquet.
Nadal won the first nine games, with Gasquet finally winning one after 70 minutes. However, Nadal continued dominating the game afterwards. Gasquet only managed to put up a fight in the third set, bringing it to 5-all before Nadal won the final two games to improve to 22-0.
Upcoming match
Next, Nadal will compete against Frances Tiafoe to advance to the quarterfinals.
Tiafoe has made it to the fourth round at Flushing Meadows for the third consecutive year. Tiafoe has lost against Nadal twice, but he insisted that he has a chance to beat Nadal.
“Match his intensity from the first point to the last,” Tiafoe said. “You can’t really have any dips. He takes advantage of it.”
In January, Nadal won the Australian Open, and in June, he went on to win the French Open. He then advanced to the Wimbledon semifinals before withdrawing from the grass-court competition due to an abdominal muscle tear.
Nadal altered his serve motion before arriving in New York. He lowered his toss so that he wouldn’t have to swing as far. Despite this change, his effectiveness has not dipped. Nadal said that he needed to prepare himself to face Tiafoe.
“Second week against a great player like Frances, I need to be ready to play and to raise my level,” Nadal said.
“I hope to be able to make that happen. I know it’s the right moment to make an improvement if I want to keep having chances to keep going on the tournament.”