| Saturday, 28 June 2008 Written by Ronald Atkin Even a late evening start on Centre Court could not stand between Rafael Nadal and a place in Monday's fourth round of the 2008 Championships. The No. 2 seed finished off Nicolas Kiefer 7-6 (7-3), 6-3, 6-3 in two hours 22 minutes with a familiar display of relentless power which simply wore down the 30-year-old German. Kiefer, who has had wrist problems for more than two years to the extent that last year he fell out of the ATP rankings, fought with determination in the first set to hold Nadal at bay with a barrage of aces in the early stages. His resistance faltered in the tie-break, however, when two forehand errors cost him dearly. By that stage he had been battling for 67 minutes, but as Nadal turned the screw, moving Kiefer from side to side relentlessly with his inch-perfect ground strokes, the German's game plan began to unravel. An early break in the second set put the 22-year-old Spaniard in the driver's seat, and he then put his foot down on the accelerator. There was good reason for Nadal's urgency – with the court becoming damper as night fell, he slipped spectacularly in the sixth game of the second set, but avoided any injury. In fact he came close to hitting the most spectacular winner of the tournament so far from a prone position, but Kiefer got to the ball and returned it into the empty court. Nadal closed out the second set in some style, winning it to love after just 33 minutes. Kiefer then took himself off for a toilet break, a rethink and a change of shirt, but it was to no avail. The Majorcan rushed into a 3-0 lead in the third set and when he broke to make it 5-1, it seemed that the end was in sight. Instead, Kiefer broke his opponent for the first and only time, raising his arms in mock triumph to the delight of Centre Court crowd. The German held serve, but there was to be no second stay of execution as Rafa served out in flamboyant style to set up a fourth round clash with No. 17 seed Mikhail Youzhny.
| Centre Court - Gentlemen's Singles - 3rd Round | |
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Match Statistics
