Rafael Nadal won the final round of Monday’s Centre Court action versus Botic van de Zandschulp, advancing to the quarterfinals for the third time in a row at Wimbledon and 8th overall. Nadal has an 18-0 Grand Slam win-loss record for this calendar year.
His first Major winning streak, spanning 2010–11, saw him win the French Open, Wimbledon, and US Open. These wins were in addition to making it all the way to the quarterfinals of the 2011 Australian Open. During that time, Nadal won 25 straight games. The second one had a streak of 19 victories in 2008. Although he failed in the US Open semifinals, he clinched the French Open and Wimbledon.
8th Wimbledon Quarter-finals for Rafael Nadal
Despite winning in straight sets, the 36-year-old still struggled in the third set. He has been dropped in the third set at least once in each of the four matchups. Nadal won the opening two sets of the matches but was unable to finish them off, dropping the third set in each case. Before the third set’s tie-break, the two players twice broke one another’s serves. To win the game, Rafael Nadal needed four match points and a mistake from van de Zandschulp.
Rafael Nadal’s victory makes him just the third person to play 350 Grand Slam main-draw games (Open Era). The top two players are Federer (429) and Djokovic (378), respectively. In the semi-finals of both 2018 and 2019, Nadal succumbed to longtime opponent Djokovic while the latter fell to Roger Federer in 2019. Since the 2011 edition of Wimbledon, Nadal has never advanced past the semifinals.
“To be back in the quarter-finals after not being here for three years is amazing. I expect a very tough match against Taylor, he won his first Masters title this year against me in the final. The quarter-finals of a Slam are always very tough,” said Nadal.