Rafael Nadal extends streak of reaching 2nd week of every Slam he's played since 2017 comeback

Rafael Nadal stepped one match closer to his 21st Grand Slam title on Friday, taking down Karen Khachanov 6-3, 6-2, 3-6, 6-1 in the third round of the 2022 Australian Open. Barring a minor hiccup in the third set, where Nadal's serve was broken once, it was a commanding performance by the Spaniard.

With this victory, Nadal has reached the second week of a Grand Slam for the 51st time in his career. Perhaps even more impressively, the World No. 5 has now made the second week of every single Major (17 in total) he has contested since his comeback in 2017.

An important factor that changed at the start of 2017 was the addition of Carlos Moya to Rafael Nadal's coaching team. The results since then are solid evidence of Moya's role in his compatriot's second wind.

The 2016 season was arguably one of the worst seasons that Nadal has endured in his career. He finished the year without reaching the quarterfinals of a single Slam - the first and only time that has happened since he won his first Roland Garros title in 2005.

The former World No. 1 suffered a shock defeat to Fernando Verdasco in the first round of the Australian Open that year. He then withdrew from his third-round match at Roland Garros due to a wrist injury, and the recovery process kept him out of Wimbledon too.

Rafael Nadal reached the fourth round at the US Open before losing to Lucas Pouille in a fifth set tiebreaker. The Spaniard ended his season prematurely in October, with hopes of coming back stronger.

After a two-and-a-half month-long break from the game, Nadal went all the way up to the final of the 2017 Australian Open. He ended up losing to Roger Federer in a gripping five-setter, but the tournament was a sign that he was back to his best.

Since then, the 20-time Grand Slam champion has reached at least the fourth round at every Grand Slam he has played. Nadal didn't participate in the 2020 US Open, the 2021 Wimbledon Championships and the 2021 US Open, so those three Slams have not been considered in his streak.

At 16 of the 17 Major tournaments he has played, Nadal has gone on to make the quarterfinals as well. The only exception is Wimbledon 2017, where he lost a marathon five-setter against Gilles Müller in the fourth round.

Rafael Nadal has now reached the Round of 16 at the Australian Open 15 times

Rafael Nadal during his second-round match at Melbourne Park

Rafael Nadal's victory also means he has now reached the Round of 16 at the Australian Open 15 times. That makes him the solitary occupant of the No. 2 position on the list of players who have reached that stage of the tournament most times in the Open Era.

The 35-year-old was previously tied with Novak Djokovic for the second spot, but the Serb has now dropped down to third. Nadal needs three more appearances in the last 16 to match Federer's record of 18 fourth-round appearances at the tournament.

In his next match at the Australian Open, Rafael Nadal takes on veteran Adrian Mannarino. The Frenchman survived a grueling four-setter against Aslan Karatsev that lasted four hours and 38 minutes.

Nadal has a 2-0 lead in the head-to-head against Mannarino, and will be the overwhelming favorite to extend that lead to three.