Rafael Nadal Defeats Nicolas Mahut to Advance to Miami Open Quarterfinals

Rafael Nadal moved a step closer to his first 2017 title Tuesday with a 6-4, 7-6 (4) victory over Nicolas Mahut in the round of 16 at the Miami Open.

While the tournament's No. 5 seed doesn't have that championship yet this year, Tuesday's win continued a stretch of formidable play that saw him make the finals of the Australian Open and the Abierto Mexicano Telcel.

Nadal split his previous two matches against Mahut but took the career head-to-head lead behind a consistent service performance Tuesday. Mahut didn't earn a single break throughout the match, which allowed Nadal to win in straight sets even though he broke Mahut just once.

According to the ATP World Tour's official website, Mahut had more aces than Nadal (7-2), but the victor won 92 percent of his first-service points compared to 77 percent from Mahut. That proved key and set up the situation where a single break point was all the Spaniard needed.

Mahut battled Nadal in the first set and kept the match on serve through the first eight games. However, the 14-time major winner earned a critical break to go up 5-4 and finished the set in five quick points during his next service game.

Tennis writer Craig O'Shannessy noted how Nadal was able to take advantage of Mahut's serves at some key moments:

Tennis TV shared Nadal's forehand winner to capture the first set:

The second set followed a similar script to the first with both competitors thriving with the serve. Nadal was unable to replicate the one critical break he notched in the first, which led to a tiebreak.

Nadal tallied two straight points on Mahut's serves when he was down 2-1 in the tiebreak to seize control and parlayed the early momentum into a 7-4 victory.

Tennis TV passed along the final point:

Nadal advanced into the quarterfinals with the win and will face No. 13 seed Jack Sock after the American handled Jared Donaldson with ease Tuesday, 6-2, 6-1.

Nadal won both of his career matchups against Sock, but they came in 2015. Sock is playing well this year and already won the Delray Beach Open in February and reached the semifinals of March's BNP Paribas Open, where he lost to eventual champion Roger Federer.

If Sock continues to play at that level, Nadal will be challenged to extend his career record to 3-0 in their head-to-head showdowns.

Post-Match Reaction

"It's a good start of the year, I think, for both of us," Nadal said of himself and Federer, per the Associated Press (via Tennis.com). "Obviously, it's a little bit better for him, but at the same time I'm happy with the way that I am playing, happy with the way that I started the year after a tough second part of the year last year with injuries.

"So I think it's a positive for both of us that we can still (be) around here and be very competitive almost every week that we are playing."