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Nadal leads charge

Nadal leads Spanish charge

09/05/2010 09:04:25 PM

World No.1 Rafael Nadal cruised through to the fourth round on a good day for the Spaniards at the US Open on Sunday.

Nadal crushed France's Gilles Simon in straight sets at Arthur Ashe Stadium on a day when three other Spaniards also sealed their places in the round of 16 at Flushing Meadows.

The eight-time Grand Slam winner proved far too good for Simon, winning 6-4 6-4 6-2 as he continues his search for a maiden US Open title.

Nadal was dominant on serve, winning 91 percent of points on his first serve and conceding just one break point for the entire match.

He out-hit the Frenchman with 30 winners to 17 while pressuring Simon into 41 unforced errors.

Nadal is yet to drop a set at Flushing Meadows this year, and will be hoping to preserve that record when he takes on fellow Spaniard Feliciano Lopez in the fourth round.

The 23rd seed set up the clash with Nadal after his opponent, Ukraine's Sergiy Stakhovsky, retired hurt with the Spaniard leading 6-3 4-0.

Earlier, eighth seed Fernando Verdasco needed four sets to get past Argentine David Nalbandian.

The Spaniard won 6-2 3-6 6-3 6-2 in just under three hours against the 31st seed to advance to a clash against compatriot David Ferrer.

"It's good that there is going to be for sure one Spanish player in the quarter-finals," Verdasco said.

"It's always nice to see all the Spanish winning and being in the last rounds."

"If you need to lose, it's better to lose against a Spanish player, then at least one guy is going to be here for one round more."

The 10th-seeded Ferrer booked his spot in the round of 16 with a straight-sets win over another Spaniard, David Gimeno-Traver.

Nicholas Almagro couldn't extend the Spanish winning streak on Sunday, the 14th seed going down to American Sam Querrey 6-3 6-4 6-4.

 
Photograph Copyright : Getty Images

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