Rafael Nadal, ranked 1st in the world, showed today his best version since the start of the US Open and earned a dominant victory against Ukrainian Alexandr Dolgopolov (6-2, 6-4 and 6-1) to advance to the quarterfinals for the seventh time in his career.
The 31-year-old Nadal, who is playing in his thirteenth US Open, reached the quarterfinals of the event for the first time since 2013 when he won it for a second time after winning it previously in 2010.
The Spaniard, who was playing the 28-year-old Dolgopolov for the ninth time in his career, earned his seventh victory against the Ukrainian and improved to 49-10 in US Open matches throughout his career.
Nadal, lost the first set in his two previous matches, against Japanese Taro Daniel and Argentinean Leonardo Mayer, but today exhibited his best tennis from the beginning and hardly needed 31 minutes to win the first set.
The winner of 15 grand slam titles left no doubt that he had come to the Arthur Ashe Stadium very focused and with perfect strokes from the back of the court dominated his rival in all aspects of the game.
After winning the first set Nadal’s confidence and conviction increased as did the level of his tennis.
Although Dolgopolov tried to put up more of a fight in the second set, the score was 4-4 after eight games, Nadal broke the Ukrainian’s serve in the ninth game to take the set in the tenth.
The third set was a walk for Nadal, who overwhelmed Dolgopolov with a 4-0 run without drawing any response from the Ukrainian player.
Nadal, won in just an hour and 41 minutes, to get an easy victory that confirms him as one of the favorites to win the last grand slam of the year.
The statistics also reflect Nadal’s superiority. Although he had two double faults he scored four aces, and earned six breaks in 13 opportunities and never allowed Dolgopolov, ranked 64th in the world, to break his serve.
Nadal had 23 winners and 11 unforced errors, but the Ukrainian had 25 and 39 respectively.
In the next round, Nadal will play against 19-year-old Russian Andrey Rublev, who defeated Belgian David Goffin 7-5, 7-6 and 6-3.
