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NEW YORK – Stuck in a tight test at the US Open, Rafael Nadal imagined the film from a volley face to face with the striker whom he celebrated with a bound and d & # 39; 39, a punch.
If it was not the game of Monday, it was surely a few points later: a winner of cross passes on a backhand crossed by his opponent, the 2014 champion, Marin Cilic, good enough to win a shout and Nadal's four-fist-pumps – with a Tiger Woods uppercut in Arthur Ashe Stadium. Once again, it was perhaps the winner of the forehand sprinting, slipping, deviating around the net post to get to the point of match, which Woods also liked.
Until now, Nadal looks healthy and hungry at Flushing Meadows. He quickly opened the door for Cilic with nine straight games for a 6-3, 3-6, 6-1, 6-2 win in the fourth round.
Asked to explain this shot on the penultimate point, Nadal chuckled and said, "It's easy to describe and hard to do."
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"I hit it well," said Nadal, "but to reach this place, of course, you need a little luck."
The 33-year-old Spaniard reached his ninth quarter-final in New York and his 40th place in all major tournaments.
Nadal, seeded number 2, who retired from his semifinal of 2018 at the US Open with a knee injury, will try to come back to the last four by beating Diego Schwartzman, number 20, in quarterfinal. Schwartzman progressed earlier Monday by eliminating number 6 Alexander Zverev 3-6, 6-2, 6-4, 6-3.
Nadal is trying to win his fourth US Open championship title and his 19th Grand Slam trophy. Roger Federer holds the men's record of 20 major. The rivals never clashed in New York; they could meet only in finals this year.
Against Cilic, who came in Monday with a 5-0 mark in fourth-round matches at Flushing Meadows, everything turned out soon after Nadal gave up a set for the first time in the tournament. In the current state of affairs, he had only played two matches before this one, as his second round opponent, Thanasi Kokkinakis, had retired with a bad shoulder.
At 2-1 in the third set, while Cilic was serving, Nadal imagined that unfinished volley to start. After Cilic missed a shot, Nadal's big setback made him -40. A double foul later, this game was over – as was essentially the match.
Cilic has just never recovered.
They would still play for about an hour, and he managed to play only two other matches.
Earlier Monday, Schwartzman took full advantage of Zverev's 17 double faults to reach the quarterfinals at Flushing Meadows for the second time.
Zverev's service problems have been lying in wait for him for months and they have come back into force against Schwartzman. The lean German lost his service eight times, won only 32% of the second service points and amassed 65 non-forced errors. He was also hit with a points penalty for swearing in the final set to give Schwartzman a 5-2 lead.
"My first service is always correct, my second service needs to be worked on," Zverev said. "But I'm going to take care of it."
Meanwhile, 20th-seeded Schwartzman regained his spirits and resumed play, taking the majority of long exchanges in a match where some points lasted up to 35 shots.
In the action of other men, Matteo Berrettini beat Andrey Rublev 6-1, 6-4, 7-6 (6) to become the first Italian to reach the quarterfinals of the US Open since 1977.
Berrettini, seeded number 24, relied on a solid game of service and a few timely shots to defeat Rublev, who had eliminated the unstable Nick Kyrgios and number 8 Stefanos Tsitsipas.
Berrettini won 14 of his 15 service games and more than 80% of his points for the first serve, and he beat 37 winners, one of which was skillfully tipped at the end of the match.
It's its deepest run at a Grand Slam event after reaching the fourth round at Wimbledon this year. Berrettini became the first Italian in the quarterfinals since Corrado Barazzutti, 42 years ago.
Main appearances in quarter-final
| Men in the open era | Quarter-finals |
|---|---|
| Roger Federer | 56 |
| Novak Djokovic | 45 |
| Jimmy Connors | 41 |
| Rafael Nadal | 40 |
Berrettini, who comes from Rome, received advice from Barazzutti, now captain of the Davis Cup in Italy; Berrettini said that they talk to each other every day.
Berrettini also frequently receives text messages from another Italian star of several decades ago, the champion of the 1976 French Open, Adriano Panatta.
"I have to say," recalls Berrettini, "he's the first to say to me," You're going to serve, like, at 220 km / h [135 mph]& # 39; I was 16 when I heard that. I was like: "I do not know. [But] if you say that, I'll trust you. ""
Berrettini is 13th seeded Gael Monfils from France.
Monfils quickly advanced to his third quarterfinal of the US Open, requiring less than an hour and a half to be sent. Pablo Andujar 6-1, 6-2, 6-2.
Monfils has never been seriously threatened against Andujar, ranked 70th, bringing back 34 winners to just four of his opponent and never losing his serve.
For the 33-year-old Monfils, Flushing Meadows gives him another chance to take advantage of the potential of one of the great shooting and show directors. Although he has now reached at least the quarter-finals of nine Grand Slam tournaments, he has never gone further than his semifinal selections at Roland Garros in 2008 and at the US Open in 2016.
Associated Press contributed to this report.
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