'Not spicy at all' - Rafael Nadal cruises into last 16, apologises for contentious Lorenzo Sonego net chat

Rafael Nadal turned on the style as he cruised into the last 16 of Wimbledon with a 6-1 6-2 6-4 victory over Lorenzo Sonego on Centre Court, and then apologised for calling his opponent to the net to chide him. After slightly underwhelming performances in previous rounds – against Francisco Cerundolo and Ricardas Berankis respectively — Nadal was back to his brilliant best, dominating his opponent with an energetic and almost faultless display to set up a match with Botic van de Zandschulp in the fourth round.

Ad/> When asked about the 'spicy' nature of the third set — the Spaniard called his opponent to the net and appeared to tell him to tone down his grunts — Nadal was apologetic, responding: «Sorry, not spicy at all. From the bottom of my heart I didn’t mean it in a negative way.

Wimbledon'A really good chance' Djokovic equals Federer's Wimbledon record — WilanderYESTERDAY AT 16:54 »I feel very sorry if I bothered him. I just wanted to tell him something, but I did it in a nice way and now I feel very bad if I really bothered him so I feel very sorry for that.

«I was talking just now to him, and I’m going to talk to him [again]. It’s not a problem I think at all.» The 36-year-old set the tone for the match with a venomous backhand and a couple of volleys as he held to love in consecutive service games, breaking his opponent in just the third game after Sonego overhit a forehand.

Sonego missed an opportunity to break back following two double-faults from Nadal, and it was a chance he would rue as the two-time Wimbledon champion took a commanding 5-1 lead. Ultimately it took Nadal just over 27 minutes to wrap up the first set – dropping just two service points throughout and finishing with a delightfully dismissive