Wimbledon 2018: Irrepressible Rafael Nadal marches past Jiri Vesely into last eight

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.

Roger Federer downs Adrian Mannarino to stay in hunt for 9th title

Champion Roger Federer’s pursuit of a record ninth Wimbledon title gathered momentum on Monday as he reached the quarter-finals with a 6-0 7-5 6-4 win over Frenchman Adrian Mannarino. Federer was in blinding form during the first set, which blazed by in 16 minutes, but after the Swiss missed four break points in the opening game of the second set, Mannarino made more of a match of it.

The world number 26 became the first man to reach break points against the 36-year-old at the All England Club this year, but failed to convert any of them as Federer made it to at least the last eight of the grasscourt major for the 16th time. He will next play either another Frenchman, Gael Monfils, or South African eighth seed Kevin Anderson.

Tenacious Simon takes Del Potro into second day

Fifth seed Juan Martin del Potro met stubborn resistance from Frenchman Gilles Simon and had to settle for a suspension of their Wimbledon fourth round match as he led 7-6(1) 7-6(5) 5-7 after more than three hours on Court Two on Monday. The big Argentine was looking to set up a mouth-watering quarter-final against Rafael Nadal, looking to avenge his defeat by the Spaniard, seeded second at Wimbledon, in the French Open semi-finals last month.

Del Potro saved two break points in the sixth game, a deft chip from the baseline that dipped over the net followed by a forehand winner, before taking the opening set in a 7-1 tiebreak. Simon, looking for his third Grand Slam quarter-final at the age of 33, secured the first break of the match to take a 4-3 lead in the second set when Del Potro netted a return. But the Argentine broke back immediately with a volley and then saved another break point at 5-5 with an ace.

The 12th game went to deuce eight times, with Simon saving four set points, as Del Potro failed to take his chances, the worst when he put an easy volley over the baseline with the court wide open. Del Potro, who made more than 20 unforced errors in the set, made hard work of winning the tiebreak, clinching it 7-5 on the seventh set point when Simon put a return high and wide and the Argentine roared in celebration.

Del Potro fell 4-1 behind in the third set after Simon broke in the third game. The Argentine, who leads the stubborn baseliner 4-3 in previous encounters, levelled on his second break point and it went to 5-5, but Simon broke again to take the first set off Del Potro in the tournament so far.