Australian Open: Nadal continues to grow and expects a renewed Thiem in quarters

After getting rid of Kyrgios, he measured himself with the Austrian, whom he has surpassed in nine of his 13 crosses, including two Roland Garros finals.

How could it be otherwise, the spirit of Kobe Bryant He was also present at the Australian Open, after a few hours after his death in the helicopter accident that shocked the world of sports. Basketball is almost my life. I see it every day. I've been following him since I can remember, he said Nick Kyrgios, which appeared in the warm-up before his match against Nadal, visibly excited, with the number 8 of the shirt of the legendary escort of Los Angeles Lakers. He was one of the greatest athletes in history, said the Spaniard.

Even as the game progressed, there was still a melancholy feeling among the public of the Rod Laver Arena. Weighed, of course, the magnificent confrontation of the first round of the first Grand Slam of the year between the local idol and a man who raises passions wherever he goes, but with a halo of latent disbelief after the tragedy that occurred north of Los Angeles. When tennis was unleashed, Nadal once again demonstrated his strength in this class of games, which marked the trajectory of the great tennis players. Come Kyrgios with its unquestionable facade of a good player and with the credit accumulated in some of the clashes with the Spanish, which he had been able to overcome in three of his previous seven crosses. The fringes of the bad relationship between the two were added, largely due to the little edifying attitudes of the Australian. I played well Kyrgios, better than he usually does in challenges of these characteristics, but only enough to take a set and force two playoffs, something that seems scarce for a man whose excellences are agreed by his teammates and specialists.

I couldn't beat him. I tried to serve and volley or left, but I had to win the point three times to take it, he admitted. Nadal won 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (6) and 7-6 (4), in three hours and 38 minutes, whose marker, regardless of the partial tie break It was identical to the one they played last year in the second round of Wimbledon.

Genie Arrebatos

In the ascending line already pointed in sixteenths before Carriage, Nadal overcame the 25 direct serves and the outbursts of genius of an adversary whose inconsistency is again evident. The biggest problem for me is having the same attitude over and over again, he commented. It was a Nadal in the tone that is expected of him to attack the final stages of a tournament that aspires to win for the second time, after the title of 2009, and match the 20 big Roger Federer. I have been taking steps in the right direction throughout the tournament. It is true that against Pablo Carreo I gave one a little more, and it was very important at that time. Today (yesterday) has been a very positive game. Your adversary is Wednesday, at a time to be determined, be Dominic Thiem, who beat Gael Monfils 6-2, 6-4 and 6-4.

Double finalist of Roland Garros, the Austrian, fifth favorite, has improved his performance in fast surface since it was put in the hands of Nicols Mass, at the beginning of last year. Shortly thereafter, he won his first Masters 1000 at Indian Wells. Already in the quarterfinals of the 2018 US Open he took Nadal to the tiebreaker of the fifth set after giving him a 6-0 entry. Favorite, as it will also be in a hypothetical semifinal against Zverev or Wawrinka, Nadal will guarantee to continue as world number 1 at the conclusion of the tournament if he exceeds the Austrian, with whom he has a favorable balance of 9-4 in the face-to-face.

Thiem just put an end to work with his countryman Thomas Muster, former world number 1 and champion of Roland Garros in 1995, considering that it did not function as a member of the team led by Mass.