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Rafael Nadal demolishes De Minaur to face Berdych in the AO 4th round

Rafael Nadal plays a fantastic 3rd round to beat Alex De Minaur in straight sets

18 January 2019

Rafael Nadal keeps on impressing in Melbourne as the world no.2 beats the 3rd Australian in first 3 rounds without conceding any set to any of them.

The match vs. De Minaur

Rafa had the daunting task to face home favorite Alex De Minaur that has been playing fantastic tennis for the entire month.

After a gigantic battle in the first 3 games, Rafa raced to win the 1st set 6-1 with the first set lasting 42 minutes.

The Australian offered a very strong opposition also in the first game the 2nd set, but eventually, Nadal managed to break him, and De Minaur imploded again, and Nadal won the set 6-2.

Once again, the Spaniard broke his opponent in the very first game of the following set, and that was enough for the world no.2 to win the match 6-1 6-2 6-4 in 2 hours and 22 minutes.

I believe I played a solid match. NADAL

After the encounter, Rafa commented

“I believe that I played a solid match. I played a good level of tennis, hitting a lot of good spots, especially during the first two sets.

I know he’s dangerous. He’s super quick. He likes to go inside the court fast. I tried to not give him many chances on that.

Then my serve worked well. I felt more dynamic with my movement tonight, every day a little bit better, in my opinion. Everything is a step forward. So that’s positive news for me. I’m very happy for the victory because at the end of the day I won 6-1, 6-2, 6-4 against a player that he was winning seven matches in a row, winning a tournament.”

H2H Rafael Nadal vs. Tomas Berdych

Rafa will face Tomas Berdych for the 24th time in their career. The head to head is 19-4 for Nadal that at a certain point has defeated Berdych for 18 consecutive matches. The last time that the Czech defeated Nadal was in the quarters of the Australian Open in 2015.

Nadal is the favorite to win also this encounter, and that may happen in straight sets.

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