Nadal, Murray, Djokovic fall in Cincinnati

CINCINNATI: World number one Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray were sent crashing out of the Cincinnati Masters, falling to a pair of unseeded players. American Mardy Fish and Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus knocked out the first and fourth seeds by outlasting them in three-set marathons.

Baghdatis posted the biggest surprise of the tournament, shocking Nadal 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 in a match that lasted two hours and 32 minutes, while Fish defeated Murray 6-7 (7/9), 6-1, 7-6 (7/5) in the tournament’s longest match lasting two hours and 56 minutes.

The afternoon match was played under gruelling conditions as temperatures on the court reached 100 degrees Fahrenheit.

Swiss superstar Roger Federer beat Russian Nikolay Davydenko in straight sets 6-4, 7-5 and former world number one Andy Roddick breezed past Novak Djokovic 6-4, 7-5.

Nadal falls to Baghdatis’s big serves

Top seed Nadal committed 30 unforced errors in the first two sets and double-faulted on break point in the ninth game of the third set, allowing the Cypriot to serve for the match.

“The matches are a lot of points, but just a few points are the key of the match,” said Nadal. “I think I did the more difficult thing and that is change the dynamics of the match because I wasn’t playing well.”

Baghdatis clinched his first victory in seven previous attempts against Nadal when the Spaniard fired a forehand into the net to register his 35th unforced error. Baghdatis finished with 18 aces to Nadal’s four and committed only 22 unforced errors.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 22^nd, 2010.