Rafael Nadal wins a thrilling 3rd round against Karen Khachanov after a fantastic battle.
The match
Rafa didn’t start the match in the best possible way after he was broken in the 3rd game (1-2). The Russian managed to consolidate the break and to get a 4-2; however, Nadal stormed back a Karen dropped his serve on the 8th game. The Russian conquered Rafa’s break again in the 11th game (6-5), and after a tough hold, he won the opener 7-5.
Rafa looked close to death in the second set when the scoreline progression was the same as the one of the first set and Khachanov was 7-5 4-2 up. Again, Rafa broke back the Russian in the 8th game (4-4), but this time it was Nadal to find the solution and win the second set 7-5.
The 3rd set went straight to the tiebreak. Rafa got a strong 6-3 lead, but Khachanov managed to save 3 consecutive set points. Finally, it was Rafa to win the set after converting his 5th ser point.
Rafa looked set to win the 4th set without more drama after he conquered a solid 4-2 lead. However, he was broken at love when he was serving for the match (5-3). Eventually, the Russian had also a set point on Rafa’s serve (30-40), but the Mallorcan found the solution to hold and bring the contest to the breaker. At that point, Khachanov imploded (1-6) and Nadal won the match 5-7 7-5 7-6 (7) 7-6 (3).
Nadal will face the world no.37 Nikoloz Basilashvili in the 4th round. The head to head is 1-0 for Rafa that defeated him 6-0 6-1 6-0 in their only match at the Roland Garros.
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