Heading to the quarterfinals, Nadal is already more Nadal

And that the story began with shock.

While completing the liturgy in the chair, before getting up and going to the service line to start the match,

Rafael Nadal

was stunned by the visit of the doctor and the tournament physio.

Red light, because it is already known that the Spaniard limps from the back and the scene after the warm-up produced cold sweats.

He hadn't asked for anything at all.

Everything was in a false alarm.

"No, it's not here ...!", Said the champion of 20 grand with laughter to the two clueless, who collected the equipment and went, we trust, to the correct track to attend to the affected.

Later, the Spanish played and convinced against Fabio Fognini heading to the quarters of this Australian Open and gradually forgetting the pain in the lower back: 6-3, 6-4 and 6-2, in two hours and 16 minutes.

• 'Djokovic hides less than he should', by TONI NADAL

• Nadal's back responds

Nadal gets serious

After three rounds more aware of the response of his back than of anything else, because Djere, Mmoh and to a lesser degree Norrie allowed it, the Mallorcan was finally able to concentrate on the true benefits of his game and the check-up did not go bad at all. .

Opposite, the unpredictable Fognini, all or nothing, as brilliant as it is desperate;

the man who turned him around in New York six years ago, doing what sounds like the impossible: going back two sets to Nadal.

In any case, already a test with capital letters.

And the result was more than satisfactory, because the Spaniard spread his wings and entered the hot fringe of the tournament putting one more gear, catching the bull by the horns and warning: now, if nothing fails, I'm here.

It was a duel settled from the bottoms and entertaining, in which Nadal took the reins and Fognini, lazy as always, went from less to more, to then return to the starting point.

It seems that the thing does not go with him, but it deceives.

The Italian tried to find the upper zone of the opponent's backhand and entangle with changes of pace, accelerating and slowing down to destabilize.

Water.

He debated during the first two sets, and the wick ran out.

The number two squeezed the first set, with an

initial

break

and a formidable response after conceding one in the fifth game, and then kept seeking more and more break options.

He missed a few trains, but Fognini's surrender was only a matter of time.

In the second set, Nadal calmed the Italian's attempt to react, undoing a small tangle in which a couple of slaps were exchanged and in which the San Remo had after a dangerous 0-40.

There the manacorí began to step on the accelerator: break, 5-4, set and two to zero.

The sun was shining in Melbourne, fastball therefore.

Too much for Fognini, now a long way from those New York days.

With the serve much more intoned and recognizable - above 200 km / h at times and, in the seconds, 10 km / h faster than the previous three days - the Manacor one continued to press (19 break options) and he imposed a cruising speed until he reached the third to last round of the tournament without having given up a single set.

An ideal situation if you rewind to just a few days ago, when your back took you away from sleep until you found the solution: puncture and forward.

Holy hand.

What could be sensed as a tighter duel, Nadal resolved it with authority and determination to meet Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas, who progressed without disheveled by the resignation of Matteo Berrettini, injured.

“If I want to have a chance to beat a player like him, I will have to play at a very high level;

if not, it will be impossible ”, he warned.

In any case, the Athenian (22 years old, six in the world) will attend Wednesday's meeting knowing that the Spanish has made a qualitative leap and that Nadal, after the headaches of the first week, is already more Nadal.

The big 21 are three steps away.

"THE PERSPECTIVE IS DIFFERENT NOW"

After two weeks of uncertainty, Nadal begins to find light in Melbourne, where his pain is subsiding after undergoing an infiltration between two vertebrae last Friday.

His back improves and his tennis takes off.

“Obviously, the outlook for the tournament is different now than it was five or six days ago.

The situation has improved, without a doubt.

Today was an important victory for me, against an opponent who has always caused me problems and in three sets, "he said.

“The first one was very good and then I got a little tired because in the end, when one goes 19 days without training at the right intensity, the preparation suffers.

Today physically I have found myself faster and more resistant, so I have taken a step forward in every way ”.

Regarding his evolution, Nadal commented: “The back has improved, without any doubt, and now there is an option to fight for what I came here for.

The preparation has not been ideal, so it may be with a deficit compared to others;

Now, without asking me, if five days ago I would have signed you to be as I am now, I would have done it with my eyes closed ”.

"Apart from the physical, I have taken a step forward in tennis.

I have lacked a bit of continuity according to what moments, something logical, but games like today's can help me gain that rhythm.

I am in the top eight of the first major tournament of the year, and that is very good news.

There is everything to gain, nothing to lose, "he continued.

Fognini represented the first true level test in this edition, and the Majorcan passed the test with flying colors.

“Compared to the other day, I have played much better in many moments.

The speed of the second serve has returned to being what it had been for a year and something, and knowing that helps you do the first better.

The reverse has worked very well and mobility has been better ”, he settled.

PROTAGONISM OF RUSSIA AND THE USA

Before Nadal beat Fognini, the triumphs of Daniil Medvedev (6-4, 6-2 and 6-3 to Mackenzie McDonald) and Andrey Rublev (6-2 and 7-6 (3) against Casper Ruud, who left) they certified the success of Russian tennis in this edition.

Both joined the surprising Aslan Karatsev, coming from the previous one, so that his country will have three representatives in the quarterfinals.

Russia had never achieved something like this in a big one.

In the women's field, the one that takes center stage is American tennis.

The presence of Serena Williams in the penultimate scale of the tournament was joined by Jennifer Brady (6-1 and 7-5 to Donna Vekic) and Jessica Pegula (6-4, 3-6 and 6-3 to Elina Svitolina), that will cross and therefore guarantee a North American semifinalist.

Meanwhile, Karolina Muchova beat Elise Mertens (7-6 (5) and 7-5) and the number one, Ashleigh Barty, continues to progress (6-3 and 6-4 to Shelby Rogers).

Australian Open:

results (Monday 14)

and

order of play (Tuesday 16)

.