Rafa Roundup: January 18, 2014

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… Nadal saved all six break points he faced and converted six of his 12 opportunities. The left-hander benefitted from 57 unforced errors from Monfils, while limiting his own error count to 18.

… Skipping his way into the fourth round in two hours and four minutes, it was not a wealth of winners that was impressive, just six, five and 10 set-by-set. It was Nadal’s relentless consistency everywhere else. Making 90 per cent of returns in set one, and keeping his first serve figures above 65, he executed as if every point were a match point, no quarter given, no easy route taken.

… Rafael Nadal has yet to drop more than four games in any set so far in Australia.

… “Me doblé un poco el tobillo derecho en el segundo set. Se ha descolgado un poco y sentí algo de dolor, pero fue en el último punto antes de un cambio. Cuando volví  ya pude jugar más tranquilo. Cuando soy espectador, el jugador que más me gusta ver sigue siendo Roger Federer, por su técnica insuperable.”

Q. Is this the best Nadal you’ve ever seen in the last years? GAEL MONFILS:  “Definitely today was in great shape.  Much better than Doha, for sure.  For me, yeah, I would say today was one of the best I haven’t seen for a while.” (via AO)

… Find out why @GrandSlamGal loves the Australian Open so much, and some of the different ways they excel at creating an incredible fan experience.

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