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Hyeon Chung's good intentions were progressively stifled by a Nadal who knew how to respond to the needs of the party. The Spanish exhibited success and determination to achieve a break in the first two sets and two in the third, overcoming the intelligent resistance of a player endowed with good tactical sense, which was impure 6-3, 6-4 and 6-2 , in one hour and 58 minutes. Tri-champion of the tournament, he joins Djokovic and Federer in the knockout stages of the US Open, the last major of the season. In his first game in the New York day shift, Nadal did not start fine, perhaps lacking rhythm after three days without competing, since he did not play his second round match by withdrawal of Tamasi Kokkinakis, injured. He had a break ball in his first game to the rest, but he had to wait for the next turn to widen the score. [Narration and statistics]

Chung plays well, a solid tennis player, who can boast backwards. Without exhibiting a high level, with more errors than usual, Nadal opened and closed the starting set with two aces , taking an advantage that he knew how to consolidate. Champion in the 1000 Masters of Montreal, accredits magnificent results in recent months, certainties that further strengthen your confidence. Only the loss to Federer in the Wimbledon semifinals stopped the bright streak resumed in the hard track course. Chung asked for more than Millman, but he is still far from his best tone. He kept proposing, guided by his good hand and knowing that his options were to try to take the initiative.

The South Korean is only 23 years old, but already looks like the skin of a survivor. Champion of the Next Gen ATP Finals in 2017, he reached shortly after the semifinals of the Australian Open leaving Alexander Zverev and Novak Djokovic himself on his way. In April 2018, it was number 19 in the world. A back operation had him off the tracks from February until last July.

Chung, loaded with luggage

Tanned in adversity, he fought in the challengers tournaments to regain status, after falling to the 170th position he now occupies. His passage through this United States Open reflects that rebellious spirit with which he intends to fight again among the best. While Nadal came to the duel with the least wear of his first round match against Australia's John Millman, he presented himself from the previous phase, with the previous two meetings in the final draw consuming the five sets. In the most recent, he raised two adverse partials and neutralized a match point to Fernando Verdasco.

All that enthusiastic baggage gave him to raise a dignified opposition to the 18-time Grand Slam tournament winner who was finding his place in the game and maintained the freshness and speed of legs that distinguishes him. There is a conclusive fact when it comes to understanding the game. Nadal may have been less bright than on other occasions, but he made the confrontation with the harvest of winning shots even more expensive, 28 against 20 of his rival.

It is no longer news that Nadal moves with the road map that advises this type of surface. In fact, he has also adopted a more direct game when the stage is his beloved clay. That attitude, together with the trade in top-level competitions, makes him a tennis player who always starts with as many possibilities as the one that most. By one way or another, with more or less difficulties, the first three series heads, the men who have ruled the circuit for three years, have made the top 16. Federer hesitated in the first two games, leaving a set in each of them, to beat Daniel Evans in the third round by the fast track. Djokovic suffered, affected by a left shoulder injury, to Londero, but liquidated Denis Kudla in sixteenths and has not yet given a set. Nadal remains intact, without any concession.

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