Wimbledon Tennis: Rafael Nadal Aims For His 23rd Grand Slam Title

Rafael Nadal after beating Lorenzo Sonego in the Wimbledon tennis tournament in London on Saturday 2 July 2022. (Reuters/Matthew Childs)

JAKARTA - Rafael Nadal, eager to pursue a Grand Slam title, crushed Italy's Lorenzo Sonego 6-1 6-2 6-4 in the third round of the Wimbledon tennis tournament, Saturday local time.

The second seed had dropped a set in each of his previous two outings on center court but on day six of Wimbledon he appeared to be on a mission to finish the match quickly.

However, when Sonego convinced the officials to cover the roof so the floodlights could be turned on, with Nadal leading 4-2 in the third set, the 36-year-old Spaniard looked unhappy with the decision as it meant his win would have to be delayed by about 10 minutes.

After the match restarted, Sonego irritated him even more by snorting in the middle of a rally after hitting a spectacular shot.

Nadal finally lost serve for the first time in the match, then he signaled for Sonego to come to the net and tell him about tennis etiquette.

That fired Nadal even more and he won the next two games to reach the last 16 of Wimbledon for the 10th time.

After the two shook hands, another lengthy discussion took place on the net as a visibly irritated Sonego tried to understand exactly that what he was doing was wrong.

Moments later Nadal quickly put a damper on the bad relationship between the two.

"Not hot at all... from the bottom of my heart... I feel really bad now if I bother him so I feel sorry for it. That's all -- I'll talk to him after that but it's okay," said Nadal, who next will face Dutch player Botic van de Zandschulp, quoted by Reuters.

Until a brief interruption closed the roof, Nadal's serve proved impenetrable.

Rafael Nadal, who relied on anesthetic injections into his leg to take him to his 14th French Open title last month, moved easily to beat the 27-year-old Italian and take a step closer to his 23rd Grand Slam to extend his record.