Nadal sails into Australian Open quarterfinal over Mannarino

Rafael Nadal is through to the Australian Open quarterfinal after a solid performance and victory over Adrian Mannarino 7-6(14) 6-2 6-2.

The match between Nadal and Mannarino was an interesting one, especially in the first set as the first set was essentially the match. Both players served well and played well early on with neither forcing a break point in the first set. Mannarino has a distinct style that takes some getting used to and Nadal was struggling to find a way to break down his armour.

The tiebreak followed that trend as both players played well and we saw very few mini-breaks. Nadal only used his 7th set point in the tiebreak to close it out with 16-14 which is a fascinating scoreline. The French man had four sets points of his own but Nadal saved them. After that disappointing finish, Mannarino's level dropped off considerably.

The Frenchman started to look sluggish as well, presumably due to playing almost five hours in the previous round. Nadal was created a lot of damage with his forehand and for the most part cruised from that point on. The 2nd set finished with 6-2 to Nadal and the 3rd one had the same score. A great win for Nadal who has yet to be tested in Melbourne.