Rafael Nadal storms into the quarter-finals in Rome
Rafael Nadal reached the quarter-finals of the ATP Masters 1000 in Rome in an impressive manner on Thursday. The Spaniard initially beat Jeremy Chardy 6-0, 6-1 in the early afternoon, followed by a 6-1-6-2 win over Nikoloz Basilashvili in the evenings.
by Lukas Zahrer
last edit: May 16, 2019, 08:53 pm
After just over an hour, Nadal turned his first match point into victory. On Friday he will meet fellow countryman Fernando Verdasco, who took Dominic Thiem and Karen Khachanov out of the tournament.
In the head-to-head with Verdasco, Nadal leads with 16-3. Only once did he have to give up on sand: In Madrid 2012 he was defeated in just three sets.
All those players who only had to play one match on Thursday lost their game. In addition to Basilashvili, Matteo Berrettini (vs. Diego Schwartzman), Borna Coric (vs. Roger Federer) and Khachanov were also hit.