Rafael Nadal barged into the quarterfinals of the 2017 Mutua Madrid Open with an emphatic 6-3, 6-1 win over Nick Kyrgios on Centre Court on Thursday. It was a resounding performance from the 14-time Grand Slam champion who needed just one hour and 12 minutes to see off the Australian.
Nadal has been simply unstoppable on clay this season. With his victory against Kyrgios, he extended his record on clay this year to a perfect 12-0. He’s not called the King of Clay for nothing. The four-time Madrid champion picked up his 10th tournament titles this spring at the Monte-Carlo Masters and the Barcelona Open.
Nadal will look to continue his hot streak when he takes on David Goffin in the quarterfinals. He will fancy his chances of doing just that as he has fared extremely well against the Belgian in the past. He dropped just four games in winning his lone meeting with Goffin last month in Monte-Carlo.
David Goffin’s strong start to the season continued on Thursday with a comprehensive 6-4, 6-2 victory over Milos Raonic. It was an impressive performance by Goffin who finally snapped his two-match losing streak against the Canadian. Goffin, who improved to 27-9 on the season, has reached two ATP World Tour finals this year at the Garanti Koza Sofia Open and the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament. He lost both of those finals to Grigor Dimitrov and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, respectively.
His last match against Nadal was shrouded in controversy after a controversial decision by chair umpire Cedric Mourier halted his momentum in that contest. Goffin should have been up 4-2 in the first set of that match in Monte Carlo but Mourier surprisingly asked him to replay the game point. Nadal took full advantage of that outrageous decision as he won 10 of the next 11 games to record the 6-3, 6-1 victory. The question now is: can Goffin hand Nadal his first defeat on clay this season? The answer is yes especially with the way Goffin is playing right now. The 26-year-old has yet to drop a set in this tournament.
