Nadal advances to quarterfinals with 900th match win

A day after his 32nd birthday, Rafael Nadal notched his 900th career match win by defeating Germany’s Maximilian Marterer 6-3, 6-2, 7-6 (4) to move into the quarterfinals of the French Open in Paris on Monday.

The Spaniard is just the fifth player in the last 50 years to top the 900 wins mark — joining Jimmy Connors, Roger Federer, Ivan Lendl and Guillermo Vilas — as he moved to 900-187 in his career, including 83-2 at Roland Garros, where he is a 10-time champion.

Nadal was broken at 15 in the first game of the match and fell behind 2-0, but he ripped off the next five games and quickly claimed the first set. The world’s top player then broke Marterer at love to open the second set and cruised through the remainder, claiming it in just 38 minutes.

The third set took a bit more work, as Nadal missed a break opportunity in the opening game before falling behind a break at 3-1. But he immediately broke back and ultimately took control in the tiebreaker, converting his second match point to wrap up the match in 2 hours, 30 minutes.

“In the third set, I had the chance at the beginning to get the break and probably take an important advantage to close the match, but I didn’t convert it,” Nadal said afterward. “I then made a couple of mistakes with my serve, and then I suffered in a tough third set. I stopped [using my] legs a little bit, in terms of playing aggressive, and that, of course, made the match more equal. He’s a good player.

“…Today was important test. I am in quarterfinals and the biggest test now is the next round… You go on court. You can win, you can lose. That’s the only thing that you need to be ready for.”

Nadal’s opponent in the quarterfinals will be 11th-seeded Argentinian Diego Schwartzman, who engineered a stunning rally to top sixth-seeded South African Kevin Anderson 1-6, 2-6, 7-5, 7-6 (0), 6-2 in a match that lasted nearly four hours.

“It’s definitely one of the most emotional matches that I can say I have played,” Schwartzman told reporters afterward.

Schwartzman was broken on his first three service games and five of his first six en route to a two-set deficit, and he fell behind a break in the third set to trail 3-5. But the Argentine suddenly flipped the script, winning the next four games to stay alive. In the fourth set, he again recovered despite being broken in his first two service games and then dominated the tiebreaker, including four points won on Anderson’s serve.

Despite being broken twice more in the deciding set, Schwartzman cruised by breaking Anderson four straight times. He ultimately broke the South African eight times in the final three sets despite a hail of aces, as Anderson finished the day with 19.

After the lengthy battle back from the brink, Schwartzman knows an even bigger challenge awaits in the next round.

“I know it’s [Nadal’s] second home, and it’s going to be a really tough match,” he said. “I need to recover well, because against him I need to run a lot and do my best.”

Schwartzman’s countryman, Juan Martin del Potro, also moved into the quarterfinals, dispatching American John Isner 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 in about two hours. The fifth-seeded del Potro faced just two break points on the day and saved both.

His quarterfinals opponent will be third-seeded Croatian Marin Cilic, who stormed out to a two-set lead over 18th-seeded Italian Fabio Fognini before hanging on for a 6-4, 6-1, 3-6, 6-7 (4), 6-3 victory, in a match that lasted 3 hours, 41 minutes.

The winner of the battle between Cilic and del Potro will face either Nadal or Schwartzman in the semifinals.

–Field Level Media