Nadal Powers Past Norrie to Bastad Quarterfinals

Rafael Nadal continued his Olympic preparations with a commanding 6-4, 6-4 victory over Cameron Norrie at the Bastad Open on Thursday, showcasing the powerful hitting that earned him 14 French Open titles.

The 38-year-old Spaniard advanced to the quarter-finals on the Swedish clay, securing his ninth Tour win of the year and achieving back-to-back victories for the first time since reaching the last-16 of the Madrid Open in April.

“Great feelings now, I’ve been a while now without playing on the Tour since Roland Garros and had the chance to compete well against a great player like Cameron,” Nadal said during his on-court interview. “I think I played, for moments, good tennis.”

Nadal now leads the former world number eight Briton 5-1 in their head-to-head record.

Nadal showed minimal signs of rust from the start, executing a superb forehand winner down the line in the very first game. The pivotal moment of the first set came at 3-3 when Nadal converted his third break point to gain the upper hand, eventually serving out the set despite a late challenge from Norrie.

In the first game of the second set, Nadal took a fall on his backhand side and required brief medical attention on his left elbow. However, he quickly recovered and held serve. Norrie then broke Nadal’s serve by chasing down a short ball and playing a delicate drop-shot return, converting the second break point after Nadal overhit a forehand.

Norrie confirmed the break with a fantastic cross-court backhand to take a 4-1 lead. Nevertheless, Nadal displayed his clay-court prowess by breaking back to love and finishing the game with a powerful doublehanded-backhand passing shot.

The 22-time Grand Slam champion dominated with his powerful, topspin-heavy ground strokes, breaking Norrie again and serving out to love, ultimately winning five consecutive games to clinch the match in straight sets.

Nadal will face Mariano Navone in the quarter-final after the fourth-seed Argentinian defeated India’s Sumit Nagal in straight sets earlier. The 23-year-old world number 36 is now the highest seed remaining in the draw, following Dutch third seed Tallon Griekspoor’s elimination by Kazakh qualifier Timofey Skatov.