Tennis: Nadal, Murray into Japan Open quarters
Tsonga, Wozniacki make it to last-eight in China.
TOKYO:
Defending champion and top-seed Rafael Nadal survived an early scare as he and second-seed Andy Murray rolled into the quarter-finals of the Japan Open.
Third-seed David Ferrer also advanced after beating Australia’s spirited qualifier Matthew Ebden.
Nadal, who was playing his first singles tournament since losing the US Open final last month, admitted the big-serving Milos Raonic had caused him some headaches in the 7-5, 6-3 victory. The Canadian forced down eight aces to leave Nadal stumped early on.
“At the start of the set, I didn’t have one chance to return his serve,” he said. “I lost the first two games on his serve without winning one point. But later I started to return his serve more so I was closer to breaking it than at the beginning.”
Nadal will take on Colombia’s Santiago Giraldo, who beat Russia’s Dmitry Tursunov 6-4, 7-6.
Briton Murray blitzed past American Alex Bogomolov 6-1, 6-2 in a highly dominant display and will take on David Nalbandian of Argentina, who defeated Ivan Dodig of Croatia 7-6, 6-2.
Earlier, Ferrer came from behind to beat Ebden 4-6, 6-2, 6-2 to set up a quarter-final meeting against Radek Stepanek. Ferrer was wary of facing the Czech in the last-eight.
Tsonga in top form
Elsewhere, top-seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga showed no mercy, putting out China’s Zhang Ze 6-3, 6-4 to ease into the quarter-finals of the China Open. The Frenchman will next face former world number one Juan Carlos Ferrero who beat Marcel Granollers 6-4, 6-4.
Tsonga won in 76 minutes, firing eight aces and breaking his opponent’s serve three times. Despite the win, Tsonga insisted that he did not have an easy time on court.
“What can I say? On paper, I was better than him, but on the court it’s different all the time,” he said. “It wasn’t easy, and I’m happy to win, even if I was supposed to.”
In the women’s draw, top-seed Caroline Wozniacki avenged her defeat to Kaia Kanepi in Tokyo last week by beating the Estonian 6-3, 7-6 to qualify for the last-eight. Wozniacki will next meet Flavia Pennetta after the Italian battled her way past Dominika Cibulkova.
Second-seed Victoria Azarenka was forced to pull out with a foot injury, handing Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova a walkover into the quarter-finals of the tournament.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 7th, 2011.
Defending champion and top-seed Rafael Nadal survived an early scare as he and second-seed Andy Murray rolled into the quarter-finals of the Japan Open.
Third-seed David Ferrer also advanced after beating Australia’s spirited qualifier Matthew Ebden.
Nadal, who was playing his first singles tournament since losing the US Open final last month, admitted the big-serving Milos Raonic had caused him some headaches in the 7-5, 6-3 victory. The Canadian forced down eight aces to leave Nadal stumped early on.
“At the start of the set, I didn’t have one chance to return his serve,” he said. “I lost the first two games on his serve without winning one point. But later I started to return his serve more so I was closer to breaking it than at the beginning.”
Nadal will take on Colombia’s Santiago Giraldo, who beat Russia’s Dmitry Tursunov 6-4, 7-6.
Briton Murray blitzed past American Alex Bogomolov 6-1, 6-2 in a highly dominant display and will take on David Nalbandian of Argentina, who defeated Ivan Dodig of Croatia 7-6, 6-2.
Earlier, Ferrer came from behind to beat Ebden 4-6, 6-2, 6-2 to set up a quarter-final meeting against Radek Stepanek. Ferrer was wary of facing the Czech in the last-eight.
Tsonga in top form
Elsewhere, top-seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga showed no mercy, putting out China’s Zhang Ze 6-3, 6-4 to ease into the quarter-finals of the China Open. The Frenchman will next face former world number one Juan Carlos Ferrero who beat Marcel Granollers 6-4, 6-4.
Tsonga won in 76 minutes, firing eight aces and breaking his opponent’s serve three times. Despite the win, Tsonga insisted that he did not have an easy time on court.
“What can I say? On paper, I was better than him, but on the court it’s different all the time,” he said. “It wasn’t easy, and I’m happy to win, even if I was supposed to.”
In the women’s draw, top-seed Caroline Wozniacki avenged her defeat to Kaia Kanepi in Tokyo last week by beating the Estonian 6-3, 7-6 to qualify for the last-eight. Wozniacki will next meet Flavia Pennetta after the Italian battled her way past Dominika Cibulkova.
Second-seed Victoria Azarenka was forced to pull out with a foot injury, handing Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova a walkover into the quarter-finals of the tournament.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 7th, 2011.