Rafael Nadal reaches third round of Wimbledon with hard-fought win over Ricardas Berankis

Rafael Nadal advanced to the third round of Wimbledon 2022 after a scrappy win against Ricardas Berankis. Nadal is looking to win his third Wimbledon title and take his overall grand slam tally to 23. Nadal beat Berankis 6-4, 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 on Thursday at the All England Club. The Spaniard will next face Italian Lorenzo Sonego who defeated Hugo Baston of France.

Rafael Nadal vs Ricardas Berankis match highlights 

The match which took place at Centre Court was played under the roof after the fourth set had been delayed start due to rain. The rain began to come down when the scoreline was 3-0 in the fourth set. Players were forced to depart while the Centre Court roof was closed. Following the return, Nadal did not look back as he cruised to the finish line quite comfortably. Overall Nadal hit 12 aces in the match. It was Nadal’s 307th Grand Slam match win, taking him past Martina Navratilova in fourth place on the all-time list, behind Roger Federer (369), Serena Williams (365) and Novak Djokovic (330)

Wimbledon 2022: Nadal thoughts on win over Ricardas Berankis

During the on-court interview Rafael Nadal in his statement said, "Every day is a challenge, that's the truth. All the opponents are difficult. We are playing against the best players of the world and especially even in these conditions, it will be more [difficult]. I didn't play much on grass for the past three years. Every day is an opportunity to improve and today I'm through, so that gives me the chance to keep going. [I am] very happy for that."

Nadal made 39 unforced errors against the former junior World No 1 Berankis. Speaking of the performance he said  "I need to improve. But I think the fourth set was much better. I think it was a good level of tennis in that fourth set. The serve worked much better," Nadal said. "In the end I was able to play a little bit more aggressive with the forehand. At the beginning, it was too many mistakes, but that's a process. It's important for me to accept that things are not perfect and [that I need to] just keep working, being humble and accept the challenge."