A rested and healthy Rafael Nadal rolled into the US Open's fourth round, wishing he had been pushed harder as he charges after a 19th Grand Slam title.
The 33-year-old Spaniard, who won his 12th French Open title in June, advanced to the last 16 by defeating 170th-ranked South Korean qualifier Chung Hyeon 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 on Saturday.
"I didn't face a break point. That's a positive thing," Nadal said.
"And the best thing is without playing great, playing a normal match, I was able to have a very comfortable score. That means a lot of things, positive ones.
"Now is the moment to push, to make a step forward if I want to give me a chance to fight for the important things. That's what I'm going to try."
"For me, personally, in some way, I will prefer to play the match. In some way is true that you save energy. So you never know what's the best thing."
"So here I am to try my best and I'm going to put my 100 percent to try to be ready for the next round."
- Big-serving Cilic next -
==========================