Wimbledon 2018: Rafael Nadal breezes into first All England Club quarter-final since 2011

The Spaniard beat unseeded Jiri Vesely 6-3 6-3 6-4 on Centre Court

Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer remain on course to meet in the Wimbledon final for the first time since the Spaniard beat the Swiss in one of the greatest matches in tennis history 10 years ago. After Federer had coasted into the quarter-finals earlier in the day with his fourth straight-sets win of the tournament, Nadal followed suit with an emphatic 6-3, 6-3, 6-4 victory over the Czech Republic’s Jiri Vesely.

Nadal’s extravagant celebrations at the end of the match told you what winning the title here for the third time would mean to the world No 1 following his triumphs in 2008 and 2010.

This is the first time he has reached the quarter-finals at the All England Club since 2011. The king of clay’s exertions at the French Open have usually damaged his chances here, but despite playing 27 matches in this year’s clay-court season and winning the title at Roland Garros for the 11th time last month the 32-year-old Spaniard is showing few signs of fatigue.

“I’m just enjoying every single day that I have to keep playing here,” Nadal said afterwards. “It’s been a very positive first four matches on grass for me. I hadn’t played on grass for a year. Last year I played well, which was a good memory for me. Now I just have to keep focusing on playing well.”

He added: “I’ve not been in the quarter-finals since 2011 so it was an important moment for me. I’m happy to be where I am. I’m playing well and I’m just enjoying every time that I have to play on this amazing court.”

Nadal had beaten Vesely in their only previous meeting three years ago, but the 6ft 6in Czech has a big game that can trouble the very best. On the equivalent day here last year Nadal lost a late-evening thriller to another big-serving left-hander when Gilles Muller beat him 15-13 in the fifth set after more than four and three-quarter hours.

Nadal is closing in on the Wimbledon final (Getty Images)

This time Nadal won the opening set after Vesely handed him the only break of serve in the fourth game. A loose forehand by the Czech took Nadal to break point and a double fault did the rest. In the second set Vesely was broken to love in the fifth game and dropped his serve again when he served at 3-5.

At 2-2 in the third set Vesely broke for the only time in the match, but from the way the Czech played the following game you sensed that he never truly believed that he was capable of winning the match. Two successive unforced backhand errors enabled Nadal to break back to 15 and four games later the Spaniard broke again to win the match. Vesely saved the first two match points with big serves but on the third his missed backhand gave Nadal victory after an hour and 53 minutes.

Vesely improved as the game wore on but it wasn't enough to beat Nadal (Getty Images)

“He started to play better from the baseline,” Nadal said when asked about Vesely’s stronger showing in the third set. “I made a couple of mistakes with my forehand in the game when I lost my serve, but I was lucky that I broke back in the next game.

“That was probably a key moment in that set. I held my serve well after that and at 5-4 I was playing with the wind, which always helps. I put a lot of balls in and finally I won the match.”