Rafael Nadal continued his pursuit of a record-breaking 21st Grand Slam title after cruising past Fabio Fognini 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 to reach the Australian Open quarter-finals on Monday.
Nadal, seeded second in Melbourne, is level with great rival Roger Federer on 20 majors and is now three wins away from striking out on his own.
Nadal had some testing moments against the unpredictable Fognini – most notably when he fell behind 2-4 in the second set – but ultimately his class shone through, and he sealed the victory after two hours and 16 minutes with an ace down the middle.
The 33-year-old Spaniard will next play either Greek fifth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas or Italian ninth seed Matteo Berrettini.
"In the quarter-finals of a Grand Slam, you are going to face a very tough opponent. Stefanos and Matteo are both young, strong players with a lot of energy, so it's going to be a big challenge," said Nadal, who was contending with a back injury in the lead-up to the Australian Open that ruled him out of the ATP Cup.
"I'm happy to win today. It's an important victory for my confidence and I will try to get ready for the day after tomorrow."
While Nadal awaits to discover his quarter-final opponent, the other last-eight match on his side of the draw has been confirmed, with fourth seed Daniil Medvedev set to take on compatriot Andrey Rublev.
Medvedev further cemented his status as a title contender after extending his winning run to 18 matches with an emphatic 6-4, 6-2, 6-3 win over Mackenzie McDonald.
The fourth-seeded Russian, who ended last season with successive titles at the Paris Masters and the ATP Finals, has started 2021 where he left off.
From @ATPCup teammates to quarterfinal opponents?@DaniilMedwed has his fingers crossed 🤞for an all-🇷🇺affair!#AusOpen | #AO2021 pic.twitter.com/EywD3vt7lv
— #AusOpen (@AustralianOpen) February 15, 2021
He won all four matches to help his country win the ATP Cup and after a wobble in the Australian Open third round where he was pushed to five sets, he has looked largely untroubled at Melbourne Park.
"It was a great match," Medvedev, 25, said. "I was feeling great, I mean the only time I lost serve was in the first set."
Medvedev is into his first quarter-final at the Australian Open where he will play countryman and ATP Cup teammate Andrey Rublev, who progressed after Norway's Casper Ruud retired injured while trailing 6-2, 7-6.
"I'm going to be rooting for Andrey because if he wins it's got to be at least one Russian in the semi-final," said Medvedev, who has beaten Rublev in all three of their past meetings.
Medvedev's best Grand Slam performance to date was reaching the final at the 2019 US Open, where he pushed Nadal to five sets.
