Rafa Rallies To Dispatch Mayer In New York

It took four sets, but Rafael Nadal secured his place in the Round of 16 at the US Open. Nadal defeated Leonardo Mayer 6-7(3), 6-3, 6-1, 6-4 with the roof closed on Arthur Ashe Stadium on Saturday.

For the second straight match, the World No. 1 was forced to rebound after dropping the opening set. On Thursday, he rallied from a set and a break down to defeat Taro Daniel and on Saturday, it was Mayer who sent an early message under the lights on Ashe.

Mayer imposed himself from the baseline during the 63-minute opener, sending Nadal scrambling from side to side. The Argentine incredibly saved the first 13 break points faced, consistently coming up clutch in the critical moments. But Nadal found his range as the second set commenced, eventually scoring his first break of the match on his 14th opportunity and drawing level with a rifled forehand pass.

The top seed would drop just five games in the third and fourth sets, eventually prevailing after three hours and 15 minutes. He struck 39 winners and claimed 51 of 75 rallies over four shots.

“It was a slow start of converting break points and when you have that many break points, you created the opportunities, more than usual,” said Nadal. “So if you are able to convert one, two of them, probably we will talk about another story because that’s the real thing. In the tie-break, I made a mistake, he played well and had some good serves.

“When you see that you lost a set that you had triple more opportunities than your opponent, then of course you are in trouble. At the beginning of the second, I had break points again. After that, finally I converted one at the 14th opportunity. After that, the match was completely different.

“You need matches like this. Then now I have the opportunity to compete again, to try to do it well. I am in the second week. That’s the important thing. I already won three matches in a row. That’s important news for me.”

Out of this world for most…

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— US Open Tennis (@usopen) September 3, 2017

Mayer was bidding to reach the Round of 16 at a Grand Slam for the second time (Wimbledon 2014). He saw his win streak as a lucky loser snapped at seven, having won the ATP World Tour 500 title in Hamburg coming into the US Open.

Nadal, who owns a tour-leading 52 match wins this year, will look to reach the quarter-finals in New York for the first time since 2013 when he faces Alexandr Dolgopolov on Monday. He leads the FedEx ATP Head2Head 6-2, with their lone 2017 battle resulting in a straight sets win for the Spaniard in Brisbane.

Dolgopolov is enjoying his most successful Grand Slam campaign since 2011, when he also advanced to the fourth round in New York (l. to Djokovic). The Ukrainian was ruthless is downing Viktor Troicki 6-1, 6-0, 6-4 in just one hour and 22 minutes, firing 24 winners and converting seven of 10 break chances.

“It’s unbelievable, really,” said Dolgopolov. “It’s one of my best matches lately. I’m really happy that I’m healthy again. I’m playing five-set matches, winning, not just one but quite a few. Now I’m in the second week, so it’s unbelievable.”