Rafael Nadal had to survive one blockbuster battle to reach the second week at Wimbledon. His reward is a fourth-round matchup that should be the polar opposite of that memorable second-round contest in just about every way.
On Thursday, Nadal faced a big-hitting opponent whom he flat-out dislikes and managed to prevail 6-3, 3-6, 7-6(5), 7-6(3) over Nick Kyrgios. On Monday, the Spaniard will go up against one of his good friends in a match that will feature almost exclusively baseline tennis and is not expected to be at all competitive.
It’s Nadal vs. frequent training partner Joao Sousa to begin the second week of action at the All-England Club on Centre Court. They have squared off twice before, with the 18-time Grand Slam champion rolling 6-1, 6-0 on the red clay of Rio de Janeiro in 2014 before being tested in a 6-0, 4-6, 6-3 victory at the 2016 Madrid Masters.
Kyrgios, as everyone knew he was capable of, put Nadal through a serious test last week. But Wimbledon’s second seed has otherwise cruised, trouncing Yuichi Sugita 6-3, 6-1, 6-3 and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 6-2, 6-3, 6-2. He has now won 15 matches in a row, a streak that includes titles in Rome and at the French Open.
Prior to arriving in London, Sousa had gone 10 straight tournaments without winning multiple matches on any occasion. He sure picked a good time to end that drought–and more. The world No. 67 from Portugal opened with a 6-0, 6-3, 6-7(8), 6-1 defeat of British wild card Paul Jubb, erased Marin Cilic 6-4, 6-4, 6-4, an then outlasted an in-form Dan Evans 4-6, 6-4, 7-5, 4-6, 6-4 in the final third-round match of week one.
“We know each other very well,” Nadal assured. “Practiced plenty of times together. He’s a player that when he’s winning matches, he’s a super dangerous opponent against everybody. He is very quick, very good physical performer. He’s aggressive with his shots, he’s going for the shots all the time. He’s a player that, sometimes he loses matches during the whole year. But when he starts to have a positive dynamic, is very, very dangerous. I think I saw him playing in Halle some great matches. Here I saw him play the other day against Cilic. He was playing great.”
Sousa may finally have some momentum, but he no longer has a friendly draw like he did through three rounds. Not at all, in fact. Nadal looked scary, title-contending good throughout the first week, and a counter-punching kind of opponent has almost never been one to give him trouble.
Pick: Nadal in 3 losing 8-10 games
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