The Spanish second seed defeated Peruvian dynamo Luis Horna 6-4, 4-6, 6-4, 6-2 in a second round match of the US Open.
NEW YORK: Rafael Nadal moved smoothly into the third round of the US Open on Thursday but was given a stern workout by Peruvian dynamo Luis Horna.
The Spanish second seed was always in command, despite dropping the second set and he ran out a 6-4, 4-6, 6-4, 6-2 winner in 2hrs 05mins. He will play either Gael Monfils of France or Wesley Moodie of South Africa for a place in the last 16.
One more win and it will be the 20-year-old's best performance at Flushing Meadows improving on his third round loss last year to James Blake.
"He was beginning to hit the ball harder in the second set and I had some problems so I had to play more aggressive," Nadal said.
"It was a very tough match so that's important for the rest of the tournament."
Playing against the 25-year-old Horna for the first time, Nadal grabbed the first service break of the match in the seventh game and he comfortably took the first set 6-4. But he was left gasping in a high-octane second set as for once he was outraced and out-hussled by the fleet-footed Peruvian, ranked a lowly 61 in the world.
Nadal went 2-0 up but Horna broke back in the sixth game to level and four games later he whacked a forehand wide of the Spaniard to convert his second set point. In typical style Nadal bit back immediately to grab a break of serve at the start of the third set and held on to that to move two sets to one ahead.
The final set followed the same scenario with Nadal well in control jumping out to an early lead and refusing to let go. Nadal has proved to be invincible over the last two years on his favourite surface clay winning back-to-back French Open crowns and repelling world No.1 Roger Federer notably in June's final in Paris. But he knows that the road to dethroning the Swiss star leads to the three other Grand Slam tournaments in Melbourne, London and New York where Federer reigns supreme.
Against all expectations Nadal reached the final at Wimbledon in July and took Federer to four sets and he has made the US Open his top priority of the year sensing he has a chance of breaking his rivals's stranglehold. The two are seeded to meet in the final on September 10 which would be the first time in the professional era that the same players have met in three Grand Slam finals in the same calendar year.
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