Melbourne

Spanish Rafael Nadal, the sixth player in the world at the moment, took another step towards his goal by winning for the second time at the Australian Open., by defeating the Round of 16 this Sunday, while his compatriots Pablo Carreno and Paula Badusa were eliminated in that case.

Canadian Denis Shapovalov, who is ranked 14th in the ATP rankings, gave the surprise by defeating third world player Alexander Zverev, one of the favorites for the title, and it will be Nadal’s opponent in the quarter-finals, who easily beat French Adrian Mannarino. .

Nadal, a 20-time Grand Slam champion, is looking for a 21st title This would put him alone with the record for winning major tournaments, as he only struggled in the first set, as he had to play to break a tie for 28 minutes, to win 7-6 (16/14), 6-2 6-2.

The first group was nerve-wracking. “I was a little lucky at the end of the tiebreak,” Nadal said of his match against Mannarino, which lasted two hours and 40 minutes.

I’m very happy that I survived that first set, without any doubt,” adding that a quick break in the second set was “very important”, the decisive step towards victory.

But if Nadal responded in the round of 16, the surprise came with the defeat of German Zverev Against Shapovalov, 6-3, 7-6 (7/5), 6-3.

Another quarter-final match at the top of the table will see France’s Gael Monfils (20) against Italy’s Matteo Berrettini (7).

Monfils took advantage of Novak Djokovic’s absence, which should theoretically be measured in the round of 16, to defeat another Serbian Miomir Kekmanovic (77), 7-5, 7-6 (7/4), 6-3.

For his part, Brittini won a contested match against Spaniard Pablo Carreno (21), 7-5, 7-6 (7/4), 6-4.

In the women’s draw, the quarter-final duel between American Madison Keys (51) and Czech Barbora Krijkova (fourth) was not as expected.

But Keys showed the qualities that made him climb to number seven in the world in 2016. He reached the US Open final in 2017 by defeating Spain’s Paula Padusa (6), 6-3, 6-1, while the Czech, winner of the last Roland Garros title, beat two-time Belarusian winner in Melbourne, Victoria Azarenka. (25), 6-2, 6-2.

For her part, world number one, Australian Ashleigh Barty, passed the round of 16 by defeating American Amanda Anisimova (60th in the world) 6-4, 6-3.

The 25-year-old Australian will try to reach the semi-finals on Tuesday against another American.Jessica Pegula (21) who defeated Greek Maria Scari (8) 7-6 (7/0), 6-3.

smp

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