TENNIS US Open:Top seed Rafael Nadal secured a place in the quarter-finals of the US Open with a 6-2 5-7 7-6 6-3 win over American Sam Querrey today.
Chasing his first US Open title, Nadal made light work of the first set but found himself under pressure in the second and a string of unforced errors showed he was not invincible.
The 20-year-old American used his powerful forehand to take advantage of some uncharacteristic mistakes by Nadal on his trademark forehand.
Though he lost his own serve twice, Querrey broke the world number one three times to take the set.
Buoyed by the home crowd, Querrey was going for his shots and hitting winners, while the French Open and Wimbledon champion pulled back on his serve and seemed to be tighter on his groundstrokes than usual.
After taking the third, Nadal seemed back in charge in the fourth, dragging a weary Querrey in long rallies to win a break in the sixth game.
But Querrey refused to give up, creating seven break points in a nail-biting seventh game that Nadal had to dig deep to survive.
Survive he did, taking the match with a crushing overhead shot.