US Open 2018: Rafael Nadal made to work on way to quarter-finals

The world No 1 beat Nikoloz Basilashvili 6-3, 6-3, 6-7, 6-4

Rafael Nadal has lost only one of the 27 matches he has played since the middle of May and took another step towards a successful defence of his US Open title here on Sunday. The world No 1 beat Nikoloz Basilashvili 6-3, 6-3, 6-7, 6-4 in a match full of spectacular shot-making to reach the quarter-finals at Flushing Meadows for the eighth time in his career.

Just as Karen Khachanov had in the previous round, Basilashvili, a superb ball-striker, forced Nadal to produce some of his best tennis. The two men traded huge ground strokes, with Basilashvili in particular going for his shots throughout. By the end of the match the swashbuckling Georgian had hit 56 winners and 59 unforced errors, compared with Nadal’s figures of 29 and 19.

Nadal, whose only loss in the last four months was against Novak Djokovic in the semi-finals at Wimbledon, stood firm in the face of Basilashvili’s relentless attacking and was still looking strong at the end, though you wonder how much these matches are taking out of the 32-year-old Spaniard, particularly as more stifling conditions are forecast this week after the respite of the last two days.

“I’ve had two very tough matches in a row,” Nadal said afterwards. “He was playing great, hitting the ball very hard. It seemed like I wasn’t in control of the points even when I was hitting some very good shots.”

Basilashvili was the only unseeded player in the top half of the draw to make it to the last 16. The world No 37 was the first man from Georgia - which has a population of just four million - to reach the fourth round of a Grand Slam tournament since Irakli Labadze at Wimbledon in 2006. The only Georgian currently in the world’s top 900, he lives in Tbilisi but trains in Istanbul.

While Basilashvili might not be quite as elegant a mover as his father, who is a dancer in the Georgian national ballet, the 26-year-old is a fine athlete who covers the court well. He can look out of his comfort zone at the net, but hits huge ground strokes and has a particularly potent backhand.

In his only previous meeting with Nadal, at the French Open last year, Basilashvili won only one game and lasted just 90 minutes. This match was no comparison as Basilashvili took the game to Nadal from the start, though it was the Spaniard who made the first break of serve in the eighth game when he turned steadfast defence into deadly attack with a typically potent forehand.

Nadal was made to work once again (Getty Images for USTA)

Nadal served out for the opening set and quickly took charge of the second by breaking to 15 in the first game. He then saved three break points at 2-1 and broke for the third time to take the set.

Basilashvili was the first to draw blood in the third set, breaking to lead 2-1, only for Nadal to break back immediately. In the tie-break Basilashvili went for broke. Nadal saved one set point with a backhand winner down the line, but a wayward forehand gave his opponent a second chance, which he took with a winning volley after a beautifully constructed rally.

Nadal broke in the opening game of the fourth set, failed to take two break points for a 4-1 lead and was immediately made to pay when Basilashvili broke back for 3-3.

In the following game, however, Nadal made what proved a match-winning break of serve when he hit a wonderful forehand down-the-line winner at 15-40. After three hours and 19 minutes the Spaniard finally served out for victory, converting his first match point with an ace.

Nadal came through in four sets (Getty Images)

Nadal will now play Dominic Thiem in his first meeting with the 24-year-old Austrian on a hard court. All 10 of their previous meetings have been on clay, a surface which both players favour. Although Nadal has won seven of them, Thiem is the only player who has beaten the Spaniard on clay in the last two years. Nadal won their most recent meeting in the final of the French Open three months ago.

Thiem has won only one of his 10 titles on hard courts and reached the quarter-finals for the first time here with an unlikely 7-5, 6-2, 7-6 victory over Kevin Anderson, the runner-up here last year and at Wimbledon this summer.

Although Thiem beat Anderson in their most recent meeting in Madrid four months ago, that was on clay. Anderson had won all six of their other meetings, which were all on hard courts.

On this occasion Thiem set the pace from the start, though there were no break points until Anderson served at 5-5 in the opening set. The South African saved the first three but on the fourth was unable to retrieve a thumping forehand down the line.

Nadal faces Dominic Thiem next (USA TODAY Sports)

Having served out for the first set, Thiem broke again, this time to love, in the opening game of the second. At 4-1 he broke for a third time and went on to serve out for the set with less than an hour and a half on the clock.

Anderson fought hard in the third set, but was outplayed in the tie-break, which Thiem won 7-2. The Austrian converted his first match point in spectacular fashion, chasing a ball out wide before hitting a delicate backhand cross-court winner beyond Anderson’s reach.

Thiem’s celebrations told you how much this meant to him, particularly after his remarkable exit from the tournament at the same stage last year, when he went two sets up but was then beaten in five by a resurgent Juan Martin del Potro.

“I was really close last year, but I couldn’t close it out,” Thiem said. “Last year the whole stadium was full of Argentinians, so I was the complete underdog. Today the crowd were on my side.”

Thiem made only 13 unforced errors, compared with 27 by Anderson, who did not have a break point in the whole match. “I served really well,” Thiem said. “I didn’t have the highest percentage but I won almost every point when my first serve was in – and on the important moments that happened quite often.”