However, with the court at his mercy, Nadal fired the forehand into the net, giving Pouille a 7-6 lead, which the 24 seed would not relinquish, hitting a victor down the line to seal victory.
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“It’s my first match on the centre court, against Rafa”, Pouille who is still looking for his first ATP Tour title, said in an on-court interview.
Pouille earned the biggest win of his career, wrapping it up with a forehand down the line.
Nadal says he wants to play for another couple of years. I put me in a position to have the victor and I had the mistake. “You can not go insane thinking about these kind of things, no?”
“I felt I played a little bad, to be honest”, said Kvitova. I am closer than a year ago to be where I want to be.
“But I need something else, I need something more that was not there today. That’s it”, Nadal said.
Pouille, who has now won three successive five-setters to reach the last eight, wasn’t intimidated by the massive Ashe stage, even though he only practiced on it a year ago.
“At the end it was full”.
Another frenchman in pink, would have a good day – Ninth seed Jo-wilfried Tsonga is facing home favourite.
Nadal, victor of 14 Grand Slam titles, then hit back and that pattern continued as the match headed into a decider.
After a draining 67-minute opening set, Tsurenko had little left in the tank for the second and Vinci stamped her authority on the match quickly by going up a break and cruising to an easy win to clinch a spot in the last eight for the third time in four years.
Tsonga next faces world No1 and defending champion Novak Djokovic, who powered past 84th-ranked Kyle Edmund of Britain 6-2 6-1 6-4. Djokovic was given a walkover in the second round and only had to play six games in the third before Mikhail Youzhny retired, but the world number one showed he is better for the extra rest in a comfortable victory.
Meanwhile, Nadal told media wing that “it was a close match and I would like to wish my opponent a best of luck for the upcoming matches”.
“I guess everything was fine today”, the two-time NY semi-finalist said.
Pouille had upset two-time champion Rafael Nadal in the previous round, but he looked to be feeling the effects of being taken the distance in three consecutive matches leading up to the all-French clash on Arthur Ashe Stadium.
“Just enjoyed the experience”, the Johannesburg-born Briton said.
Stay tuned, this is going to be a good one.
And Tsonga would be able to roll to a four set victory, sealing things when Sock badly misfires on this return on match point – the Frenchman is now into the quarters for the second straight year.
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Rafael Nadal has struggled mightily before falling 6-1 2-6 6-4 3-6 7-6 (8-6) to Lucas Pouille at the US Open in a fourth-round marathon lasting more than four hours.
