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Rafael Nadal will be out to wrestle back complete control of his US Open campaign when he takes on in-form qualifier Leonardo Mayer. Join The Roar for live scores from around 4am (AEST).
Nadal would have been confident of continuing to breeze through the US Open, but he battled to overcome plucky Japanese qualifier Taro Daniel in the second round.
With up and down form on the way in, questions over his health and being in the same half of the draw as Roger Federer, Nadal needed to make a statement early and he did that in the first round against Dusan Lajovic with an easy win in straight sets.
That’s where the fun ended though. He was broken in the ninth game of the first set by Daniel, who went onto win the first set. He was in control of the second set as well, up a break with Nadal looking to be all at sea, before the world No.1 finally rediscovered his mojo, breaking back to win 17 of the final 23 games.
The final scoreline read 4-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-2, but Nadal as lucky Daniel had flat spots and seemingly ran out of energy – not a surprise for someone who normally plays on the Challenger circuit over five sets in a physical match against Nadal.
While Nadal’s form was off in the second round, he has a habit of making matches physical, running opponents off the court and keeping more balls in than anyone else and it’s something he will look to replicate against Mayer.
The 30-year-old Mayer spent his time leading up to the US Open on clay, but it hasn’t affected him so far. He didn’t drop a set during the three qualifying matches, and caused a major boilover in the first round when he got the better of Richard Gasquet.
The Frenchman was expected to march straight into the second round, but Mayer bounced back from a set down to win in four, knocking a seeded player out in the process and giving him an untold amount of confidence.
That confidence clearly translated nicely into the second round, when Mayer again took four sets to get the better of Yuichi Sugita. Again, Mayer dropped the first set before bouncing back in convincing fashion to win.
Dropping the first set against Nadal will be a completely different prospect though – one that’s unrecoverable.
The pair have played four on four previous occasions with Nadal never dropping a set against Mayer and the winner will play either Viktor Troicki or Alexandr Dolgopolov in the fourth round.
Prediction
Nadal won’t be challenged here. Despite Mayer’s form, he hasn’t played anyone even close to Nadal’s calibre.
Nadal in straight sets.
Be sure to join The Roar for live scores of this match from around 4am (AEST) or at the completion of Agnieszka Radwanska versus Coco Vandeweghe on the Arthur Ashe Stadium and don’t forget to add a comment below.