Veteran Nadal still reigns in Spain
Rafael Nadal has battled into the fourth round of the Madrid Open with a hardfought win over Argentina’s Pedro Cachin.
The 37-year-old is still playing within himself as he bids to build his fitness for the French Open next month.
He cruised through the first set but lost a scrappy second in a tie-break before eventually sealing a 6-1 6-7 (5-7) 6-3 victory in a little more than three hours yesterday.
Five-time winner Nadal, playing at his home tournament for probably the last time, said on Sky Sports: “I found a way to be through.
‘‘In the third I was able to be more unpredictable and I think that changed the match.
“I’m enjoying the fact that I’m playing at home because it means everything to me and I’m trying my best to keep dreaming – and tomorrow is another day.”
Play was briefly halted in the first set while a spectator required medical treatment, with Cachin rushing to the players’ fridge to send bottles of water into the stand.
When they resumed Nadal promptly secured a third break of serve to wrap up the set.
But Cachin began swinging at the start of the second and broke the Nadal serve twice to lead 4-1 and silence the sell-out Spanish crowd. The 22-time grand slam champion upped the intensity and retrieved one break before saving two set points in a marathon 10th game to level the set at 5-5, only to lose the tie-break.
However, Nadal secured a break at the start of the third and ultimately claimed victory to set up a fourth-round meeting with 22-year-old Czech Jiri Lehecka.
Top seed Jannik Sinner advanced into the last 16 with a convincing 6-2 7-5 victory over Pavel Kotov.
World No 4 Daniil Medvedev dropped the first set against American Sebastian Korda but hit back to win 5-7 7-6 (7-4) 6-3.