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Rafael Nadal has stepped up his campaign for a second Australian Open title, reaching the last eight with a comfortable win over Italian 16th seed Fabio Fognini on Rod Laver Arena.
Fognini, who took eliminated Australia’s last men’s hope, Alex de Minaur, in the previous round, found Nadal a far tougher proposition — the Spaniard advanced 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 in just two hours and 16 minutes.
The win puts him in the quarter-finals at Melbourne Park for the 13th time.
Fognini produced more winners than his opponent — 32 to 24 — but his inability to repeat the consistency of his play against de Minaur proved a big problem.
Nadal has had question marks over his fitness this summer, but he appeared to move easily as he dominated the latter part of the match against his Italian opponent.
He will face the winner of tonight’s match between Stefanos Tsitsipas and Matteo Berrettini for a place in the semi-finals.
More to come.
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