World number two Rafael Nadal simply crushed fellow Spaniard Tommy Robredo 6-0, 6-2, 6-2 in their US Open 2013 quarterfinal match on Wednesday night to earn a ticket to the hardcourt Slam semifinal. The match lasted an hour and 34 minutes with Nadal maintaining a perfect winning streak in hardcourt matches this season to 20 matches.
Robredo spoiled a potential Nadal vs Roger Federer quarterfinal match after the 19th seeded upset seventh-seed Federer in the fourth round. While he was at his element during the previous round, Robredo just couldn’t find anything to damage Nadal’s game and he only won four games in total in the match.
“I think I played my best match of the US Open this year,” Nadal said during the on-court interview. “I am very happy with the way that I moved myself on court, very happy that the way I hit my forehand and my backhand especially.”
“Today I played much closer [to] the way that I want to play, playing more aggressive,” he added. “When I had the forehand, I was able to change the direction a lot of times and with a lot of precision. I’m sure that’s the way I have to play to keep having chances to be successful [on] every surface, but especially on this one.”
Nadal won the US Open in 2010. He missed the tournament last year due to ongoing rehabilitation of his left knee. Since he has no ranking points to defend, Nadal is now just a couple of matches away from potentially reclaiming the world number one ranking.
Nadal can become world number one by Monday if he wins the US Open title and Novak Djokovic does not reach the final. Up next for the Spaniard is eighth-seed Richard Gasquet of France where he holds a 10-0 head to head series lead.
