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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