Rafael Nadal Holds Off Mikhail Kukushkin in Straight Sets at Wimbledon 2018

Second seed Rafael Nadal weathered an early storm from Mikhail Kukushkin to come through their second-round clash with a 6-4, 6-3, 6-4 victory at Wimbledon on Thursday.

The two-time Wimbledon champion survived a tough opening set in which Kukushkin hit multiple winners. He then established his superiority and prevailed in two hours and 23 minutes on Centre Court.

Nadal had to work much harder for his second-round victory than top seed Roger Federer did to beat Lukas Lacko in 90 minutes on Thursday. He will face Alex de Minaur.

Nadal held serve in the opening game of the match, but only after saving three break points and battling for over 10 minutes.

It was a sign of things to come, as Kukushkin continued to pile on the pressure with some big hitting. Though he fell behind 3-0, he managed to bring the set back to 3-3 as he hit the lines on both sides.

The Kazakhstani player was eventually a victim of serving second in the set, as the pressure seemed to get to him at 4-5. A nervy double-fault set up Nadal's first set point, which the Spaniard couldn't take, but Kukushkin then netted to hand the world No. 1 a one-set lead.

Nadal kicked up a gear in the second set as he looked to make his advantage unassailable.

He showed some miraculous touches at the net, which isn't always the most lauded part of his game, and then broke for 3-1 to take control of the match.

While the 17-time Grand Slam winner upped his level, Kukushkin's dropped slightly as he failed to maintain the impressive intensity he had shown in the opener. He could barely get close on Nadal's serve as he looked to get back on level terms, failing to earn a single break point in the second set after forcing six in the first.

At the start of the third, after holding his serve, Kukushkin did finally get another chance to break. In fact, he earned five break points.

But he could not take any of them, to his obvious frustration in another mammoth game. 

He did break Nadal's serve to move to 3-1 in the third set, as the Spaniard hit a crosscourt forehand long. However, the advantage did not last long, as a determined Nadal hit straight back to level it up at 3-3.

Kukushkin made the Spaniard work hard for his win, but Nadal broke again to go up 5-4 before serving out the match.