After a brutal 21-minute first set tie-break that saw him fight off four set points and need seven set points of his own to close it out, 16-14, Rafael Nadal cruised through the next two sets to defeat tricky French lefty Adrian Mannarino, 7-6 (14), 6-2, 6-2, in the fourth round of the Australian Open on Sunday afternoon.

And with that victory, Nadal is now through to the 14th Australian Open quarterfinal of his career, and the 45th Grand Slam quarterfinal of his career.

The Spaniard, who has actually reached the quarterfinals or better in 14 of his last 15 appearances at the Australian Open, is now tied for second-most career appearances in the final eight for a man in the tournament’s history.

MOST AUSTRALIAN OPEN QUARTERFINALS (men, all-time)
15: Roger Federer
14: Rafael Nadal, John Newcombe
13: Jack Crawford, Adrian Quist
12: Novak Djokovic, Harry Hopman, John Bromwich
11: Roy Emerson

MOST GRAND SLAM QUARTERFINALS (men, all-time)
58: Roger Federer
51: Novak Djokovic
45: Rafael Nadal
41: Jimmy Connors
37: Roy Emerson

Nadal’s 45 career Grand Slam quarterfinals include 14 at the Australian Open, 15 at Roland Garros, 7 at Wimbledon and 9 at the US Open.

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