Rafael Nadal Has Easy Win Over Kenny Anderson, Makes Quarter-Finals Of 2015 Australian Open

Rafael Nadal of Spain was challenged in the opening set but cruised the rest of the way in netting a 7-5 6-1 6-4 victory over Kenny Anderson of South Africa in the fourth round of the men’s singles competition at the 2015 Australian Open. The match lasted just two hours and six minutes as the world no. 3 advances to the quarter-final round where he faces Tomas Berdych, who beat home country bet Bernard Tomic also on Sunday.

Nadal admitted that the first set was a tough one especially as Anderson was extra-aggressive in going for the winners. Nadal had 15 unforced errors in the opening set.

“There is always some key points of the match that change the dynamic of the match. Is true that I was lucky in the first set to have the set with me because was very dangerous,” Nadal said in the interview in the tournament’s official website. “I think Kevin was playing very aggressive from the beginning, going for the winners every shot.”

With rival Roger Federer already eliminated, Nadal becomes one of the top contenders for the crown alongside Novak Djokovic of Serbia and defending champion Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland.

“I am one of the eight. That's the most important thing, no? I am in the last eight of the tournament. Seriously, for me, I cannot talk about that. I never talked during my career about that,” Nadal added. “But especially in this moment when you are coming back after a period of time where you were not on competition and you're going to play a very tough player like Tomas Berdych that he started the season great playing very well in Doha, and now he's here in quarterfinals.”

Anderson had eight aces to Nadal’s three which kept the South African competitive but was dominated in other categories. Nadal was 16-of-18 (89%) on net points and did not allow Anderson to break him going 0-of-6 on break points the entire match.

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