Nadal hits 50 at US Open, Pliskova races through
New York: World No.1 Rafael Nadal notched up his 50th win at the US Open on Monday to reach the quarterfinals for the seventh time.
The two-time champion, who could meet old rival Roger Federer in New York for the first time at the semifinal stage, crushed Ukraine's Alexander Dolgopolov 6-2, 6-4, 6-1.
The 31-year-old Spaniard goes on to face Russian 19-year-old Andrey Rublev, who stunned Belgian ninth seed David Goffin 7-5, 7-6 (7-5), 6-3 to become the youngest quarterfinalist in New York since Andy Roddick in 2001.
"I played a solid match with not many mistakes," said Nadal, the reigning French Open champion.
“He's a player who can play amazing shots but sometimes he can be very unpredictable with errors so I just waited for my opportunity.”
Nadal, the 2010 and 2013 champion in New York, showed no signs of the struggles that bedeviled him in the two previous rounds, when he dropped the opening set before prevailing in four.
His 23 winners were just shaded by world number 64 Dolgopolov’s 25 but the Ukrainian's 39 unforced errors were more than three times those committed by Nadal.
