We are getting into the later rounds of another Grand Slam. That means fewer matches of presumably higher quality and more intense and stressful moments for players. Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray, Tomas Berdych, and Stan Wawrinka all look formidable and could challenge for the title. But I want to talk about one player.

If you want to see a perfect example of a player playing his way into a tournament, look no further than Rafael Nadal. Nadal was impressive in his opening match but was downright poor in his second. Don't be fooled by the strong scoreline in his third-round win over Dudi Sela. Rafa wasn't particularly impressive in that match; Sela just has nothing to challenge Rafa with. It was a perfect match for Nadal to use to get himself into rhythm for this tournament. And it worked.

Nadal's match against Kevin Anderson was what should have been a bad matchup for him. Rafa struggles against big serves, and Anderson has a good enough return to put Nadal on the defensive to start a point. But Nadal dominated this match from the end of the first set onwards. His return was impeccable, getting into baseline rallies even on Anderson's huge serve. And once rallies started, Anderson never really had a chance.

Honor Roll:

Tomas Berdych (defeated Tomic 62 76 62)- Bernard Tomic came to play, but Berdych wasn't having any of it. His groundstrokes were crisp and clean and brutal. Rafa's still not up to 100% of his best level, which means that Berdych has a definite chance if he plays this well.

Kei Nishikori (defeated Johnson 67 61 62 63)- Let's start by pointing out that Steve Johnson just keeps on getting better and better. He is a solid baseline player who plays amazing tactical tennis and uses the whole court to make up for his lack of overpowering weapons. He outworked Nishikori to pull off the first set, but Kei responded beautifully. He never let Johnson play his own game after that first set and just blasted Johnson off the court. Things will get tougher from here because each of Nishikori's final four opponents (should he get there) will be top-10 players, but the US Open should have taught us not to doubt him.

And just because I am remiss in not mentioning it a few days ago, but Malik Jaziri became the first ever Tunisian player to reach the third round of a Slam. It is a tremendous accomplishment for a rising player.

Lost Their Homework:

John Isner (lost to Muller 67 67 46)- In a way, you can't expect otherwise from Isner. He gets broken very rarely and gets himself to tiebreaks. It just seemed like he wilted in the biggest moments. He did everything right until the times he absolutely had to. Maybe expecting him to go farther isn't fair anymore, but we can still expect for him to not lose in straight sets to Gilles Muller.

Kevin Anderson (lost to Nadal 57 16 46)- Anderson played well for the first 11 games. He wilted under pressure at the end of the first set and never recovered. A fourth-round finish at a Slam is a solid result for him, but watching the match you felt like he could have done more.

Match of the Day:

I don't know how to find a Match of the Day for here. In this most recent block of matches, the only that even went to four sets were Nishikori/Johnson and David Ferrer/Gilles Simon. And, with no offense to Ferrer and Simon, it is not the type of match that draws extreme interest or stays intense. Both just play a style that leads to drawn-out points that, while entertaining and stressful, doesn't hold your attention in a way that either quick-strike attacking tennis or strong counterpunching does. The fourth-set tiebreak was very tense, but I can't give credit to a match in which the two players combined for 66 more errors than winners. So, no Match of the Day, but Rafa is certainly the story of the day.