Nadal ruling court
TEN- TIME champion Rafael Nadal fired a chilling warning to pretenders to his throne after surging into a record- equalling 12th French Open quarter- final.
“I am enjoying the day by day on the tour and I hope to keep doing this for a while,” the world No. 1 said after celebrating his 32nd birthday with a 6- 3 6- 2 7- 6 ( 7- 4) fourth- round victory over little- known but gallant German Maximilian Marterer.
“I don’t feel myself old. But I am 32, and I am here around since 2003, so it’s a long way, a lot of years. “But, no, I feel happy to be here.” Despite enduring his toughest workout of the tournament, it was a case of another day, another milestone for the king of clay as he posted his 900th tour- level win, as well as matching Novak Djokovic’s record number of men’s quarter- final appearances in Paris.
“I never like to be arrogant at all,” Nadal said.
“I don’t want to have an answer that looks like this. But being honest, I won 11 Monte Carlos, 11 Barcelonas, eight Romes, so it’s about the surface, not only the place.”
That didn’t stop Marterer – only the 11th man in 50 years of professional tennis to make the last 16 on debut at Roland Garros, and first since Nadal in 2005 – from putting up a spirited challenge.
Nadal had to recover from a service breakdown in both the second and third sets to put away the world No. 70 after a two- hour, 30- minute struggle.
Nadal’s latest victory, his 234th at a major, also moved the Spaniard past Jimmy Connors into outright third place for most wins at a grand slam behind Roger Federer ( 332) and Djokovic ( 244).
The top seed next plays Diego Schwartzman after Argentina’s 11th seed fought back from two sets and 5- 3 down to deny South African sixth seed Kevin Anderson 1- 6 2- 6 7- 5 7- 6 ( 7- 0) 6- 2 in a niggly affair.
Schwartzman took exception to Anderson’s over- the- top celebrations before staging his heroic comeback.
“I never see something like this. No matter if he played a good point or if I do a bad choice, he’s always saying something,” said Schwartzman while venting his frustrations at chair umpire Marijana Veljovic.
“You have to have some respect for the ( other) players because when I miss the ball, be quiet.”