'Tweener lob takes Nadal into fourth round

The spectacular 'tweener lob Rafael Nadal somehow conjured up to get to match point was so spectacular, he was asked whether he'd ever before hit a shot quite like that.

"Well, actually, yes," Nadal said, nodding and laughing. "Not many times, but I remember one."

This one certainly was memorable, providing quite a flourish at the end of a 6-1, 6-4, 6-2 victory over 47th-ranked Andrey Kuznetsov of Russia on Friday night that put Nadal back in the U.S. Open's fourth round for the first time since winning the 2013 title. The owner of 14 Grand Slam trophies, including two at Flushing Meadows, Nadal hadn't been to the fourth round at any major tournament since the 2015 French Open.

This season, he lost in the first round of the Australian Open. Then he pulled out of the French Open before his third-round match because of a torn tendon sheath in his left wrist, an injury that forced him to withdraw from Wimbledon altogether and miss about 21/2 months on tour in all.

"You need to be patient. You need to take your time, recover, work hard," Nadal said. "That's what I did. That's all."

Nadal said the wrist, which helps generate all of that heavy topspin on his uppercut of a lefty forehand, still feels pain - but noted that it's "something that is not limiting my game now. That's the most important thing."

He said his forehand is improving, and he's particularly pleased to be more comfortable hitting that stroke down the line, which opens up space to allow him to hit it cross-court. Against Kuznetsov, Nadal produced 15 of his 22 winners with forehands.