|
His great rival and eight-times champion Roger
Federer had already maintained his regal progress, claiming the
first set of his match against Adrian Mannarino in 16 minutes.
Then came Serena Williams who posted another thumping win to
continue her ominous progress toward an eighth-title.
So Nadal, whose 17 Grand Slam titles are eclipsed by Federer's
20 and the 23 owned by Williams, had a lot to live up to in the
warm late afternoon sunshine.
He did not disappoint -- dissecting fellow left-hander Vesely
with a typically rumbustious display.
Like Federer, Nadal has yet to drop a set here on reaching the
quarter-finals for the first time since 2011 -- since when his
record at the All England Club has been mediocre.
So far this year, though, it has been like watching him on a
Parisian claycourt rather than a London lawn, such has been the
ferocity in his brutal groundstrokes and his boundless energy.
After claiming an 11th French Open title Nadal raised doubts
about whether he would even play at Wimbledon.
However, not only did he arrive with his batteries charged after
some Mallorcan sunshine, the 32-year-old has looked like the one
who beat Federer in their epic final in 2008.
Nadal has suffered some bad losses since reaching the 2011
showpiece, falling to four players with three-digit rankings.
But burly Czech Vesely, more dangerous than his 93rd ranking
suggest, never got close to causing an upset.
NADAL'S CHANCE
Nadal said it was the first time in seven years he had arrived
with a chance of winning the title.
"It's always the same. If I am playing worse, the opponents play
better. When I am playing better, the opponents normally play
worse," was his succinct take on matters.
"It's true that opponents probably played some good matches, but
what happened is that I was not playing the right way. We can
find reasons, knees, everything. But it was more about (the fact
that) I was not able to compete at the best level."
Second seed Nadal was made to work just hard enough by Veseley
Czech without ever looking in any danger.
The Czech gifted Nadal the one break he needed to win the first
set with a double-fault, but the Spaniard took matters into his
own hands in the second, clubbing two forehand winners to grab
one break and winning the set on Vesely's serve with a sliced
winner as his opponent lumbered forward.
There was a brief hiccup in the third set when Vesely broke for
a 3-2 lead when a rare Nadal forehand error drew gasps of
surprise from the crowd.
The Spaniard hit back immediately though and sealed victory on
his third match point when Vesely served at 4-5.
World number one Nadal has now reached the last eight in four
consecutive Grand Slams for the first time since 2011 but he
will not want to stop there.
His next obstacle in his quest for a third Wimbledon title will
be either Argentina's fifth-seeded Juan Martin del Potro or
Frenchman Gilles Simon on Wednesday.
(Reporting by Martyn Herman; Editing by Ken Ferris)
[© 2018 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2018 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content.
 |
|
