Rafael Nadal reaches the quarters in Toronto after winning a great battle against a revived Stan Wawrinka.

The match

It was clear from the very beginning that Stan Wawrinka had the full intention of upsetting Rafa in this 3^rd round. The Swiss had a great start, but he missed a tremendous opportunity to break Rafa in the 9^th game of the opening set when he had 3 consecutive break points (0-40). Eventually, Rafa managed to hold his serve and break Stan in the 12^th game (7-5).

The second set was a bit of a thriller. In fact, it seemed as Rafa was going to achieve an easy win after he was leading 2-0, but it was Wawrinka to fight back and conquer 4 consecutive games (4-2). The Swiss failed to serve out the set when he was leading 5-4, and it was Rafa to finally win the match at the following breaker. The final result was 7-5 7-6 (4).

I need to stay aggressive

Soon after the match, Rafa explained what helped him to win this battle to comment

“To have success on these kinds of surfaces, I need to play first thing well and then aggressive,” Nadal said. “It’s true that if you don’t play well, it’s hard to be aggressive. Every match has been so difficult and a great test for me.”

Next vs. Cilic

Rafa will face Marin Cilic in the following round. The head to head is 5-2 for Rafa, but “only” 3-2 on hard courts.