No. 2 Rafael Nadal has reached his 14th quarterfinal in his last sixteen majors with an extremely convincing 6-4, 6-2, 6-2 win over unseeded Paul-Henri Mathieu.
After needing five sets to win each of his past two matches, Nadal was in control quickly in all three sets against Mathieu, getting an early break in each frame and never looking back.
Nadal acknowledged in his post match interview with the BBC that he will need to “serve really well” if he is going to have a shot against No. 6 Robin Soderling in their quarterfinal showdown on this fast surface.
But with Soderling’s struggles today against David Ferrer, another Spaniard who is best on clay, Nadal is probably feeling better about the match-up than he was yesterday.