Rafael Nadal was ruthless with Richard Gasquet whom he swept 6-0, 6-1, 7-5 in 2:17 on Saturday in the 3rd round of the US Open, inflicting on the Frenchman an 18th defeat in as many confrontations between the two players.
“The nose is a little bigger than usual, but it’s okay,” began by saying the Spaniard who had given himself a big racket blow in the face in the second round.
“The nights in New York are the most beautiful in the world. I have raised my level of play and it is important to progress match following match”, underlined Nadal, author of 35 winning strokes for 23 unforced errors.
The Spaniard, 3rd in the world, therefore continues his road to a 5th title in New York which would allow him to bring his record of Grand Slam titles to 23. We will have to start by dismissing the American Frances Tiafoe (26th) in the round of 16.
In front of nearly 24,000 spectators, in a night session on the Arthur-Ashe court, Nadal imposed a showdown on Gasquet (91st) from the start of the match, not hesitating to play on the backhand of the Frenchman, yet his strong blow .
But Gasquet was unable to hold on and gradually crumbled, losing the first nine games of the game.
Symbolically, it was on a direct fault on the backhand that he offered the first set to Nadal.
At 6-0, 3-0, Gasquet, supported by the public who felt he was in distress, ended up winning his first game, raising his arms in a cross to the ovation of the public.
But he committed too many unforced errors (29), and was too delicate with his service (7 double faults in total and 57% of first serves) to worry Nadal who quietly won the next five games to lead two sets at zero and come off 2-0 in the third.
But this time, Gasquet picked up, managing to take his opponent’s serve. And he finally stood up to the 36-year-old Mallorcan, until the latter managed the decisive break to lead 6-5 and serve to win the match.
Gasquet, also 36, reached the last four at Flushing Meadows in 2013 but hasn’t made it past the third round since 2018.
The two players have known each other since they were 12 years old. But on the main circuit, Nadal has always clearly dominated Gasquet: in total, they played 47 sets and the Frenchman won only 4 of them, the last in 2008.