Nadal Cruises Into 13th Roland Garros Quarter-final
Rafael Nadal might have lost a set in his third-round match at Roland Garros, but the 11-time champion suffered no such hiccup Sunday in the Round of 16.
Nadal was at his devastating best to reach his 13th quarter-final on the Parisian terre battue, defeating Argentine Juan Ignacio Londero 6-2, 6-3, 6-3 in two hours and 13 minutes. In 11 of the Spaniard’s 12 previous trips to the last eight at Roland Garros, he went on to lift the Coupe des Mousquetaires.
"[It was] a very difficult day. Very windy out there. So it was not easy to find the feelings. But with those conditions, I think I did a lot of things well," Nadal said. "Playing a solid match against that player, being honest, he's good. He's very intense, with good shots from the baseline, very aggressive. It was a positive victory for me."
View Infosys MatchBeats For Nadal's Win
The World No. 2 is now an astonishing 90-2 at the clay-court major, and 115-2 in best-of-five-set matches on this surface. Nadal has won 59 of 61 sets during his 20-match unbeaten run here since losing to Novak Djokovic in the 2015 quarter-finals.
"What's happened here is something really unbelievable. I don't know what can happen in the future or not. I am trying my best to compete well and to give [myself] a chance to be where I am today," Nadal said. "Now I'm going to have a tough match against Kei or Benoit. So that's my goal now. But of course 11 [titles] here already is something really unbelievable."
His opponent, Londero, has enjoyed a breakthrough season on the ATP Tour, having begun his campaign without a tour-level match win. Although he claimed his maiden tour-level title at the Cordoba Open, Nadal owns 58 clay-court trophies, and his experience advantage showed immediately, with a break in his first return game. The 32-year-old never looked back, crushing 30 winners to Londero’s 23 to advance.
Nadal vs. Londero Statistics
| Player | Winners | Unforced Errors |
| Rafael Nadal | 40 | 25 |
| Juan Ignacio Londero | 23 | 30 |
To his credit, the World No. 78 went after his forehand to try to trouble Nadal, but he was unable to make a dent in the Spaniard's armour. If anything, it led to shorter points. According to Infosys MatchBeats, of the 158 points in the match, there were only eight rallies of at least 10 shots.
"Even though he's a player that not many people know about, he's a player who plays well," Nadal said. "He's had important victories. He has a very good rhythm in his game, and he can be very dangerous on this surface."
Nadal saved all three break points he faced at 3-1 in the opening set, striking three consecutive winners to escape the game and keep Londero from digging into the set. And after 38 minutes, the Argentine wildly missed an inside-out forehand to end the first set, Nadal in full command.
It took longer for the Spaniard to grab control in the second set, but Nadal broke for 4-2 as his 25-year-old opponent began to fatigue, having played a grueling three-hour, 28-minute five-setter in the third round of his first Grand Slam main draw. Nadal laced a forehand down the line for his 25th winner of the match to take a two-set lead.
After saving break point in his first service game of the third set, Nadal broke Londero immediately to bring the finish line within sight. He had a slight hiccup up 4-1 with a double-break, as Londero moved to within 3-4, leading 0/30 on Nadal's serve, but the lefty righted his ship and closed out the match by winning seven of the final eight points.
Nadal will next face the winner of seventh seed Kei Nishikori or Frenchman Benoit Paire. Nishikori led Paire 6-2, 6-7(8), 6-2 when play was suspended until Monday due to darkness. The second seed has won 10 of his 12 FedEx ATP Head2Head meetings against the Japanese star, and he has triumphed all four times he has played Paire.
Did You Know?
- Nadal will now compete in his 38th Grand Slam quarter-final, standing alone in fourth all-time, moving ahead of Aussie great Roy Emerson.
- The Spaniard began his match one hour and 35 minutes after Stefanos Tsitsipas and Stan Wawrinka struck their first ball, but finished while the Greek and Swiss were still in their fourth set.