Wimbledon 2022: Rafael Nadal cruises past Botic Van de Zandschulp to reach quarterfinals

 

Rafael Nadal had won the third-na clash against Lorenzo Sonego in straight sets after a dominating performance. The Spaniard continued his consistent show against the Dutchman Botic Van de Zandschulp as he defeated him by 6-4, 6-2, 7-6.

Nadal broke Zandschulp’s serve in the 10th game of the opening set when the 26-year-old was serving at 5-4 to stay in the set. The Spaniard then dominated the second set as he broke his opponent’s serve twice to take it by 6-2.

Nadal was serving at 5-3 for the match but Botic broke the Spaniard’s serve to get back into the match. The third set then went into the tiebreak and Nadal had three chances to seal the deal but he could not finish the game.

However, the veteran finally converted his fourth match point to enter the Wimbledon quarterfinals for the eighth time in his glorious career. Overall, Botic committed a lot of unforced errors, which led to his downfall.

Nadal reckons he played at a very high level and he was satisfied with his own performance.

“I continued in a positive way,” he said. “I think, until the end [when] I played a bad game at 5-3, [it] had been a very positive match against a difficult opponent. Botic has been improving unbelievably in the last year, so huge congratulations to him this amazing improvement.

“In a personal way, after all the things that happened the last couple of months, to be able to be in the quarter-finals at Wimbledon after three years without playing here [since 2019], it’s amazing for me, so [I’m] very, very happy.”

Meanwhile, Nadal will face America’s Taylor Fritz in the quarterfinal at SW19. Fritz had beaten Nadal in the finals of Indian Wells 2022 when the Spaniard was playing with a stress fracture in his rib.

“He’s playing well, he’s having an amazing year, winning his first Masters 1000 — against me, by the way, in the final,” Nadal said, drawing laughs. “It’s going to be a tough match, but we are in the quarter-finals of Wimbledon so what can I expect?”

Nadal will face Fritz on Thursday at Centre Court.