Melbourne:
Rafael Nadal played his best high-intensity match of the Australian Open to see off Marin Cilic and reach the quarter-finals today.
The world number one, bidding for a fourth straight major title to complete a non-calendar year Grand Slam, was too strong for the 15th-seeded Croat, winning 6-2, 6-4, 6-3 in 2hr 31min on Rod Laver Arena.
Nadal will now play close friend and Spanish seventh seed David Ferrer in Wednesday's quarters. He leads Ferrer 11-3.
It will be Nadal's fifth successive Australian Open quarter-final and he stretched his Grand Slam winning streak to 25 matches, his longest, but four off the record run of 29 held by Rod Laver.
"Before tonight's match I was a little nervous because Cilic can play very aggressively and is very dangerous," Nadal said.
"I was able to play with high intensity, very good rhythm, playing more inside the court. I play more aggressive, changing the rhythm with the slice and with the topspin backhand. The serve worked better today.
"I feel I played my best match by far at this year's Open. In general, I think it was a very good match for me and very important victory."
Nadal said he felt no effects of the virus which he brought into the Open, and noticeably did not sweat anywhere near as much as he did in his third-round win over Australian teen Bernard Tomic.
"Today I felt very good. I didn't sweat like the other days. So that's fantastic news for me," he said. "The better news is I played much better than the rest of the days."
Nadal broke Cilic's serve five times and hit 26 winners and 21 errors. Cilic only got two break point opportunities in the entire match and failed to convert.
Nadal said he was anticipating a tough encounter with Ferrer in the Australian Open's first all-Spanish quarter-final in 14 years.
"We know each other well. We played a lot of times against each other and have practised together a lot of times.
"I think he's been a fantastic player for many years being in the top positions. That's very difficult to do.
"I know it's going to be a really difficult match."
Cilic was backing up after his marathon five-setter with American John Isner over four-and-a-half hours on Saturday.
"I didn't push him too much," Cilic said. "You couldn't see how much he does have in the tank and especially as I didn't play great. But definitely he's got good confidence. I think conditions are a little bit slower this year and could suit him a little bit more."
Cilic recorded his best Grand Slam performance by reaching last year's semi-finals, where he lost to Andy Murray, and will now lose ground in the next rankings after the Open. "I'm hoping that I'm gonna come back closer to top 10. With this loss here, I'm going to drop a little bit in my ranking. I was defending my semis points from last year," he said.
The world number one, bidding for a fourth straight major title to complete a non-calendar year Grand Slam, was too strong for the 15th-seeded Croat, winning 6-2, 6-4, 6-3 in 2hr 31min on Rod Laver Arena.
Nadal will now play close friend and Spanish seventh seed David Ferrer in Wednesday's quarters. He leads Ferrer 11-3.
It will be Nadal's fifth successive Australian Open quarter-final and he stretched his Grand Slam winning streak to 25 matches, his longest, but four off the record run of 29 held by Rod Laver.
"Before tonight's match I was a little nervous because Cilic can play very aggressively and is very dangerous," Nadal said.
"I was able to play with high intensity, very good rhythm, playing more inside the court. I play more aggressive, changing the rhythm with the slice and with the topspin backhand. The serve worked better today.
"I feel I played my best match by far at this year's Open. In general, I think it was a very good match for me and very important victory."
Nadal said he felt no effects of the virus which he brought into the Open, and noticeably did not sweat anywhere near as much as he did in his third-round win over Australian teen Bernard Tomic.
"Today I felt very good. I didn't sweat like the other days. So that's fantastic news for me," he said. "The better news is I played much better than the rest of the days."
Nadal broke Cilic's serve five times and hit 26 winners and 21 errors. Cilic only got two break point opportunities in the entire match and failed to convert.
Nadal said he was anticipating a tough encounter with Ferrer in the Australian Open's first all-Spanish quarter-final in 14 years.
"We know each other well. We played a lot of times against each other and have practised together a lot of times.
"I think he's been a fantastic player for many years being in the top positions. That's very difficult to do.
"I know it's going to be a really difficult match."
Cilic was backing up after his marathon five-setter with American John Isner over four-and-a-half hours on Saturday.
"I didn't push him too much," Cilic said. "You couldn't see how much he does have in the tank and especially as I didn't play great. But definitely he's got good confidence. I think conditions are a little bit slower this year and could suit him a little bit more."
Cilic recorded his best Grand Slam performance by reaching last year's semi-finals, where he lost to Andy Murray, and will now lose ground in the next rankings after the Open. "I'm hoping that I'm gonna come back closer to top 10. With this loss here, I'm going to drop a little bit in my ranking. I was defending my semis points from last year," he said.
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