Rafael Nadal Advances to Wimbledon Quarterfinals with Win vs. Botic van de Zandschulp

No. 2 Rafael Nadal clinched a spot in the Wimbledon 2022 quarterfinals after a 6-4, 6-3, 7-6 (6) win over No. 21 Botic van de Zandschulp.

With the win, Nadal improves to 18-0 in Grand Slams this year after already winning the Australian Open and French Open. It's also his third straight time reaching at least the quarterfinal of Wimbledon after falling short in his previous five appearances.

The latest win was another dominant performance for the Spanish star with 70 percent of service points in the match, including nine aces.

The 36-year-old finished with 29 winners and just 17 unforced errors across the three sets.

Van de Zandschulp was seeking his second career appearance in a Grand Slam quarterfinal, but his impressive run at the All England Club came to an end on Monday.

Despite Nadal's talent and momentum heading into the round, there was concern Van de Zandschulp's style of play would cause him problems:

After all, the Dutch player earned relatively easy wins over Feliciano Lopez and Richard Gasquet earlier in the tournament.

The first set showed why as Van de Zandschulp matched the superstar with no breaks through the first nine games. It took until the 10th game for Nadal to finally gain an advantage, breaking his opponent to win the set 6-4.

The second set was much easier for the favorite.

Nadal earned two breaks and finished 17-of-23 on service points on the way to a 6-2 romp. The No. 2 seed was cruising at this point.

There were some bright spots for Van de Zandschulp in the third set, including his first break of the match:

Nadal earned a break back in the next game, but he couldn't serve it out after going up 5-2. Van de Zandschulp won three straight games and eventually forced a tiebreak.

After Nadal got to triple match point in the tiebreak, Van de Zandschulp again fought back to even the tiebreak at 6-6.

It still wasn't enough to win a set, with Nadal getting the key points down the stretch to finish things off.

The aggressiveness paid off for the veteran, who finished 17-of-26 on net points while keeping his errors low. Even with some mistakes in third set, Nadal did enough to win in two hours and 21 minutes.

Nadal is now just three wins away from his third Wimbledon title and third Grand Slam of the year. Fans are also likely looking ahead to a dream final between him and No. 1 Novak Djokovic.

No. 11 seed Taylor Fritz stands in the way with a quarterfinal matchup against Nadal on Wednesday. The American has won four matches without dropping a single set, although he is yet to face a seeded player.