Nadal continues on path to No. 1

LONDON — Rafael Nadal is on his way to the fourth round at Wimbledon, and he’s three matches away from taking over as the No. 1 player in the world.

Nadal beat Karen Khachanov of Russia 6-1, 6-4, 7-6 (3) Friday on Centre Court. If he reaches the final at the All England Club, the two-time Wimbledon champion will take over from Andy Murray as the top-ranked player in theworld.

“First set and a half, I think, was very happy (with) the way that I played,” Nadal said in a television interview after walking off court. “Then it was a little bit tougher. I stopped a little bit with the legs and he started to hit stronger, but he’s still a tough opponent and it’s impossible to win easy.”

Defending champion Andy Murray also had a tough opponent, but he came through a difficult fourth set to beat Fabio Fognini 6-2, 4-6, 6-1, 7-5.

Fognini led 5-2 in the fourth set and had five set points, butMurraywon the final fivegamesto reach the fourth round.

“When you’re playing a guy who has all the shots like him, it’s difficult,” Murray said. “He generates power with very short swings. It’s difficult to see when he’s going to hit the ball big and he was taking me out ofmy rhythm.”

Earlier Friday, Victoria Azarenka extended her Grand Slam comeback into the secondweek.

The former No. 1 from Belarus, who gave birth to her first child in December, advanced to the fourth round by beating Heather Watson 3-6, 6-1, 6-4 on Centre Court.

Venus Williams, 37, became the oldest woman to reach the fourth round at Wimbledon since Martina Navratilova was the same age when she was the tournament’s runner-up in 1994. The five-time Wimbledon champion beat Naomi Osaka 7-6 (3), 6-4 and will next face 27th-seeded Ana Konjuh in Monday’s fourth round.

This is her first tournament since she was involved a two-car crash in Florida last month. A 78year-old man in the other car died twoweeks later.