Rafa Nadal crushes fiery Fabio Fognini to reach Australian Open quarters

15 February 2021 - 10:11 By Reuters
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Rafa Nadal fought back from 4-2 down at some stage.
Rafa Nadal fought back from 4-2 down at some stage.
Image: Australian Open/Twitter

Rafa Nadal threw a blanket over the fire of Fabio Fognini to cruise into the quarter-finals of the Australian Open with a 6-3 6-4 6-2 win on Monday.

Facing the man who dumped him from the 2015 US Open, second seed Nadal held steady against the fierce hitting of the flamboyant Italian and counter-punched brilliantly to avoid a longer scrap at a sunbathed Rod Laver Arena.

The score suggested otherwise, but it was a quality two-hour 16-minute workout for Nadal, who had to rally from 4-2 down in the second set to put the match on his terms.

From there, the momentum was all the Spaniard's as Nadal roared through the final set to fix up a clash with either Stefanos Tsitsipas or Matteo Berrettini.


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