Rafael Nadal cruised into the second week of the US Open with a 6-3 6-4 6-2 victory over Hyeon Chung.
The Spaniard was too strong for the resurgent South Korean after a straight sets win sealed his place in the last 16 in New York.
It’s been a dream week which has seen him play less than five hours in the first week in the tournament with limited energy wasted.
Next for Nadal will be John Isner or Marin Cilic.
After not playing for two days, a fully fit Nadal was looking to continue his march to a potential final with either Roger Federer or Novak Djokovic.
Standing in his way was Hyeon Chung, who had just recovered from injury and looked to make a big statement on his return to a grand slam.
It was a good start for both men on serve as the Spaniard used the slice to try and force the errors out of the South Korean in the early stages.
Although movement was Chung’s biggest strength, he was coming up against one of the fastest players in the last five years.
The world number 170 had rushed too many of his shots and another costly backhand error gave the second seed the early advantage at 4-2.
More clean hitting was to come from Nadal as he wrapped up the first set comfortably in 43 minutes as he counter-punched everything Chung offered.
Nadal(🎥@Eurosport_RU ) pic.twitter.com/T28gNruSJO
— doublefault28 (@doublefault28) August 31, 2019
In the second set, there was more of a scrappy affair as both men had a mediocre returning day for their standards in what turned into a battle of the defence.
There was more confidence from the South Korean in the second set as he started to implement his own game style aggressively against Nadal.
However the 18-time grand slam champion always finds away to problem solve, which is one of his biggest strengths and in a long game, he converted his second break point to find the crucial break.
After clinging on to his lead to take the second set 6-4, it was one-way traffic from then as Chung just couldn’t create enough opportunities.
Some poor second serve placement meant that he was vulnerable on serve and two more breaks saw the Spaniard cruise to the second week.
After the match Nadal admitted he is trying to be more aggressive as the tournament goes on, “I am happy to be playing on hard. Honestly, I am trying to be a bit more aggressive,” Nadal explained in his on-court interview.
“I am playing a little bit less than before as everyone can see. This year I missed Miami due to injury. Of course I want to be playing everywhere, but I am not 25 anymore.
“I played well in Montreal, but I skipped Cincinnati. Here (in New York) I am in the fourth round for one more time. It was a good match again. I’m just excited.”
Having only spent four hours and 7 minutes on court this has been a dream week for Nadal, who looks to search for his fourth US Open title.
Next for Nadal will be either John Isner or Marin Cilic as he will have to improve his returning game in order to make the last eight.
