Rafael Nadal has defeated Kei Nishikori of Japan in the fourth round of the ongoing French Open. Nadal won the match in the straight sets by 6-4, 6-1, 6-3.

It was a display of quality tennis by the Spanish no. 1. He just outfoxed Nishikori with his class.

With this victory, Nadal has secured a place in the final 8 of the competition.

In the post match interview, Nadal said, “To be honest, I hadn’t played at my best in the last three games. Especially, I was struggling with my forehand shots. But, today, I think everything went perfectly fine.”

There were no breakthroughs in the first 4 games of the opening set and the scores were levelled at 2-2 when the 4^th game ended. A breakthrough in the 5^th game gave Nadal a lead of 3-2. The Spaniard then increased his lead by holding his serve in the next game.

Nadal didn’t lose his lead after that and bagged his next couple of service games to seal the opener by 6-4.

In the second set, Nadal was in his zone. He showed why he is the best on clay courts. He broke the serve of the Japanese player three times on the trot and grabbed the set by 6-1.

Nadal’s intensity remained the same in the proceeding set as well. With a break of serve in the 4^th game, he got ahead by 3-1.

Nishikori needed to break Nadal’s serve at least once to bounce back from that position, but, the Spaniard didn’t let him do that. He held his remaining serves and wrapped up the match.

In the quarter final round, Nadal will face the Swiss player Stanislas Wawrinka who made his way into the final 8 by defeating Richard Gasquet.