MELBOURNE: Sixth-seed Rafael Nadal decimated Adrian Mannarino of France 7-6 (16-14), 6-2, 6-2 in a match that lasted for two hours and 40 minutes to enter the quarter-finals of men's singles here at the Rod Laver Arena on Sunday.
The opening set started off on a competitive note with both the players holding their serves to take it to a tie-break. The tie-breaker turned out to be an even more intense battle where both Nadal and Mannarino saved three set points each. Ultimately the 20-time grand slam champion held his nerve to win the tie-breaker 16-14 in the seventh set point of the set.
Unlike the first, the second set turned out to be a completely different story with the 2009 Australian Open Champion Nadal dictating terms right from the word go by breaking Frenchman Mannarino in the very first game.
The Spaniard looked unstoppable and broke his opponent again in the fifth game to take a 4-1 lead and ultimately winning the set 6-2.
In the third set as well, the 20-time grand slam champion Nadal started on a similar note by breaking Frenchman Adrian Mannarino in the opening game. In the very next game Mannarino broke back to level the score 1-1 in second set. But that break hardly affected the Spaniard as he broke his opponent in the next game and never looked back.
He broke him again in the fifth game to take a convincing 4-1 lead and bagged the third set with a similar score line of second. Rafael Nadal hit 16 aces and 42 winners en route to his entry in last-8.