Witness of luxury in the Arthur Ashe, Tiger Woods was desperate in the second set, while watching Cilic grow in front of his friend Nadal. Living history of golf, the American took little time to verify again that the left-hander is of those of his race, reluctant to discourage and very capable of straightening adverse situations, such as the one that was first presented to him in this United States Open. Exposed to Cilic's whip for a few moments of passivity, the world number two projected Tiger from his armchair with a double return of two shots that culminated in a reverse cross-pass. From there, with the break that placed 3-1 in the third quarter, Nadal was launched, without stopping, towards the quarterfinals of the US Open, after winning the Croatian 6-3, 3-6, 6 -1 and 6-2, in two hours and 48 minutes.

In the most complicated game since falling to Federer in the Wimbledon semifinals, Nadal hit the table and claimed as favorite as the one to raise the cup for the fourth time in this tournament next Sunday. Its performance is magnificent and the context is unbeatable. With seven of the top 10 seekers out of competition, his next opponent will be Diego Schwartzman, 20th favorite, whom he has defeated in his seven crosses. Three of them took place in Grand Slam tournaments, the closest last year in the quarterfinals of Roland Garros. Nadal won four sets, as he had done months earlier in the round of the Australian Open. The faces will be seen again in New York, after the left-hander won in three sets in the second round of 2015.

"In some moments of the second set he saw that there were too many points in his hand. I was too far behind and he hit the ball very hard. I thought about changing things and began to return the second serve more on the track," said the Spaniard about the match against Cilic.

A diaphanous horizon

The elimination of Novak Djokovic, champion of the title and winner of four of the last five Grand Slam tournaments, clarifies even more the Nadal horizon, which has its worst adversary in the Serbian, the only one in the elite that presents a favorable balance against him in direct clashes.

Cilic, twenty-third ranked, managed to reverse the initial situation, but could not give continuity to a proposal hardly viable in time. He managed to find at times the way to enter with his right-wing static and rule the game. Nadal did not fit well to give up his serve in the fourth game of the second set, I stumble that came preceded by a warning after exceeding in the 25 seconds available to serve. The gap signaled the impulse of his adversary, sure even when the exchanges were prolonged, forcing the Spaniard to shrink water from the baseline.

It was a break in a match where the champion this year at Roland Garros, Rome and Montreal performed according to the level of demand. After meeting a set, he responded with the step forward that he claimed himself on the eve of the game and intimidated a Cilic that gradually disarmed. Winner of the tournament in 2014, the Croatian is far from the tennis player who reached third place in the ranking in January last year, after losing against Federer the final of the Australian Open, having left behind Nadal, who retired injured in quarters when I was behind on the scoreboard. In the current course, he has his best results in the quarterfinals of Madrid and Washington, which shows the discreet professional moment he has to live. His opposition lasted a set. With the delivery of the serve in the first game of the room, began to show white flag. Nadal had pounced on the jugular and was not willing to release his prey. One more, the twenty-fifth in the last 26 games, a sequence that invites logical optimism.

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