Spanish eighth seed Nadal, a 14-time Grand Slam champion, ousted Argentina’s Diego Schwartzman 7-6 (7/5), 6-3, 7-5, for his 750th career tour-level match triumph while top-ranked Djokovic stayed on a last-eight collision course with Nadal by dispatching Austrian Andreas Haider-Maurer 6-4, 6-1, 6-2.
The reigning Australian Open and Wimbledon champion, whose only US Open title came in 2011, won 14 of the final 17 games.
And here is Novak Djokovic dancing with the dance man, with @bgtennisnation watching it right in front: pic.twitter.com/dsMYMr1Gq2
— Andrew Jerell Jones (@sluggahjells) September 3, 2015
“From that 4-all moment, I played really well,” Djokovic said.
Nadal was down 5-4 in the first set tie-breaker before battling back against Schwartzman.
“Happy to be through,” Nadal said. “Was a tough battle. I feel lucky to be through. To take that first set was very important to me.”
Nadal, the 2010 and 2013 US Open champion, improved to 22-1 in his past 23 US Open matches after missing 2012 and 2014 due to injury and finishing as the 2011 runner-up.
Canadian 10th seed Milos Raonic, who could meet Nadal in the fourth round, fired 18 aces in dispatching Spain’s Fernando Verdasco 6-2, 6-4, 6-7 (5/7), 7-6 (7/1).
– #360view: Men’s US Open brings unpredictability
– US Open: Roger Federer eases past Mayer
– INTERVIEW: Dimitrov talks ahead of the US Open
Defending champion Marin Cilic and seventh seed David Ferrer neared a fourth-round meeting as well.
Croatian ninth seed Cilic fired 19 aces in defeating 139th-ranked Russian qualifier Evgeny Donskoy 6-2, 6-3, 7-5.
Spain’s Ferrer, the 2013 French Open runner-up who missed the past 2 1/2 months with an elbow injury, downed 102nd-ranked Serb Filip Krajinovic 7-5, 7-5, 7-6 (7/4).
“I’m very happy I’m in the third round,” said Ferrer. “It’s a nice comeback playing on these courts.”
