Nadal saved 7 of 7 break points against Istomin, a rare example of an ATP player whose mother is his coach.
“I’m working on my serve all my life. Sometimes, [it] works well. Other times, not working that well,’’ said Nadal, who has saved all eight break points he’s faced in the tournament.
Next up for Nadal is former top-10 player Gilles Simon of France, who eliminated 29th-seeded Philipp Kohlschreiber of Germany, 4-6, 6-3, 1-6, 6-1, 6-3.
Nadal is one of seven Spanish men who won matches, giving the country a tournament-high nine representatives in the third round.
John Isner, striving to be known for more than winning the longest tennis match in history, reached the third round by beating Marco Chiudinelli of Switzerland, 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (7-5), 6-4. Isner, at No. 18, is the highest-seeded American man left in the tournament.
American qualifier Ryan Harrison, striving to show he belongs at this level, came as close as possible to winning without doing so, wasting three match points in the fifth-set tiebreaker and losing 6-3, 5-7, 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (8-6) to Sergiy Stakhovsky of Ukraine.
Isner was joined in the third round by No. 20 Sam Querrey, a 6-2, 6-3, 6-4 winner against Marcel Granollers of Spain. Of 15 US men in the draw, four are left: Isner, Querrey, No. 19 Mardy Fish and wild card James Blake. Fish and Blake play third-round matches today.
No. 4 Andy Murray beat Jamaica’s Dustin Brown, 7-5, 6-3, 6-0, and other seeded winners included No. 8 Fernando Verdasco, No. 10 David Ferrer, No. 23 Feliciano Lopez and No. 31 David Nalbandian.
On the women’s side, Venus Williams easily got past 185th-ranked qualifier Mandy Minella of Luxembourg, 6-2, 6-1.
Next for the older Williams is No. 16 Shahar Peer, who beat No. 19 Flavia Pennetta, 6-4, 6-4.
There were no upsets in women’s third-round play, other than, perhaps, the fact that Kim Clijsters lost the first three games of her match before coming back to defeat No. 27 Petra Kvitova, 6-3, 6-0.
French Open champion Francesca Schiavone, French Open runner-up Sam Stosur, two-time major finalist Elena Dementieva, and former No. 1 Ana Ivanovic all won. The highlight was Schiavone’s back-to-the-net, between-the-legs shot in her 6-1, 7-5 victory over No. 29 Alona Bondarenko — nearly identical to what Roger Federer has done each of the past two years at the Open.
