Rafael Nadal is definitely Richard Gasquet's pet peeve.

The Spaniard was once again ruthless with the Frenchman, whom he swept 6-0, 6-1, 7-5 in 2:17 on Saturday in the third round of the US Open.

Above all, he inflicted on the 91st in the world an 18th defeat in as many confrontations.

"I raised my level of play and it is important to progress game after game," said Nadal, author of 35 winning shots for 23 unforced errors.

The 3rd in the world therefore continues his road to a 5th title in New York which would allow him to bring his record of Grand Slam titles to 23.

Before that, we will have to start by dismissing the American Frances Tiafoe (26th) in the round of 16.

The first nine games for Nadal

In front of nearly 24,000 spectators, in a night session on the Arthur-Ashe court, Nadal therefore imposed a showdown on Gasquet from the start of the match, not hesitating to play on the backhand of the Frenchman, yet his strong blow.

But Gasquet was unable to hold on and gradually crumbled, losing the first nine games of the game.

“The 6-0 in the first set hurts me.

The set lasts three quarters of an hour, I have a lot of break points, game points on my serve…”, regretted the Habs.

“At the beginning, I served very, very badly and then I took a little pressure.

But he is much stronger than me, he really cancels all my strength and at no time do I manage to have a little strategy, a little air”.

Symbolically, it was on an unforced backhand fault that he offered the first set to Nadal.

Seven double faults for Gasquet

At 6-0, 3-0, Gasquet, supported by the public who felt he was in distress, ended up winning his first game. But he committed too many unforced errors (29) and was too delicate with his service ( 7 double faults in total and 57% of first serves) to worry Nadal who quietly won the next five games to lead two sets to zero and come away 2-0 in the third.

But this time, Gasquet picked up, managing to take his opponent's serve.

And he finally stood up to the 36-year-old Mallorcan, until the latter managed the decisive break to lead 6-5 and serve to win the match.

“I managed to relax in the third and I felt that he was less well, he made a few double faults.

I think I could have… Well, I didn't have break points either, there was nothing extraordinary, but I could have gone to the tie-break and won that set. , but the victory was still very far away”, analyzed Gasquet.

Also 36, he reached the last four at Flushing Meadows in 2013, but hasn't made it past the third round since 2018. The two players have known each other since they were 12.

On the circuit, Nadal has always clearly dominated Gasquet: in total, they have played 47 sets and the Frenchman has won only 4, the last in 2008.

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