The 20 time grand slam winner looks ready to fight for another grand slam title and show the young and new era of ATP that the likes of Djokovic and himself aren’t done yet.
The Spaniard met Karen Kachanov in the round 3 encounter yesterday evening with a strong Head to Head record against the Russian. However since the past few matches between the two it has been difficult for Nadal to beat the youngster.
But this time, it wasn’t that hard for Nadal. Rafa took the first and second set at 6-3,6-2 and then surprisingly lost a set to the Russian as he tried new service return positions behind the baseline.
The Russian took the second set in quite convincing fashion at 3-6. But, just when it looked like Kachanov could pull a rabbit out of his hat and get this to an elusive 5th set tie breaker, Nadal stopped testing and went beast mode.
The Spaniard quickly pulled into the right gear and looked like the Rafa of old as he brought out his running down the line backhand and then his famous arm pump celebration.
With Nadal in the Round of 16, he will now face the frenchman Adrian Mannarino tomorrow at the Rod Laver Arena. Alexander Zverev also qualified for the Round of 16 by beating Albot 6-3, 6-4, 6-4.