Rafael Nadal’s pursuit of a third Grand Slam title of the year and the 23rd of his illustrious career continued as he swept Richard Gasquet in straight sets to reach the fourth round of the US Open.
The Spaniard – who won the Australian and French Opens earlier this year before pulling out of Wimbledon ahead of his semi-final against Nick Kyrgios – beat Gasquet 6-0 6-1 7-5 at Flushing Meadows to extend his career record against the French at 18-0.
Nadal will now face American Frances Tiafoe, who beat Argentina’s Diego Schwartzman 7-6 6-4 6-4 in their third-round meeting in New York.
Nadal is looking to win his fifth US Open title, having previously triumphed in 2012, 2012, 2017 and in his previous appearance at the tournament in 2019.
The 36-year-old is joined in the last 16 by fellow Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz, with the teenager beating American Jenson Brooksby 6-3 6-3 6-3.
Alcaraz will next face Marin Cilic after the 2014 US Open champion defeated Britain’s Dan Evans, while Andrey Rublev booked a meeting with Britain’s Cameron Norrie after beating Denis Shapovalov in a final-set tiebreak.
Nadal extends dominant record over Gasquet
Gasquet has not won a set against Nadal since 2008 and it took him a long time to win another match in this contest, finally getting on the board after going down 6-0 3-0.
The Frenchman put up more of a fight in the third set but eventually lost a 34th straight set against Nadal.
Nadal’s routine victory contrasted with his first two matches, in which he lost the first set to Australia’s Rinky Hijikata and Italy’s Fabio Fognini.
Nadal said afterwards: “Three matches already, I raised the level a little bit today, so it’s important for me, I think. I’m happy about it against a very good friend like Richard.
“Tiafoe is a great player, he is very charismatic, very fast, so I have to keep improving, keep playing better and better to have a chance to go through.
“Hopefully a win like today will help me grow. I’m happy to be in the fourth round and hopefully give myself a good chance to continue.”
Rublev defeats Shapovalov in a classic clash
Rublev now stands in the way of Norrie – who beat Denmark’s Holger Rune in straight sets earlier on Saturday – making the US Open quarter-finals for the first time.
The ninth seed defeated Shapovalov, who is ranked 19th in New York, in a classic grandstand match, winning 6-4 2-6 6-7 (3-7) 6-4 7-6 ( 10-7).
Rublev served for the match at 5-4 in the fifth set but was then broken by the Canadian, who saved a number of match points.
Rublev eventually converted his fifth match point in the tiebreak to settle a gripping contest.
Elsewhere, Ilya Ivaskha of Belarus saw off Italian 26th seed Lorenzo Musetti 6-4 3-6 6-2 6-3 to set up a meeting with another Italian, 11th seed Jannik Sinner.
Sinner recovered from a first set loss to American Brandon Nakashima before winning 3-6 6-4 6-1 6-2.
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