Nadal takes pleasure from pain

Second-seed beats Rogerio Dutra Silva to qualify for third round.

NEW YORK:

Rafael Nadal admitted that he has learned to enjoy suffering the pain of constantly battling the knee injuries which have threatened to derail his career.

The Spanish world number two moved comfortably into the US Open third round with a 6-2, 6-1, 6-0 win over Brazilian Rogerio Dutra Silva and has been the in-form player of 2013, claiming nine titles and building a 55-3 winning record.

But the 27-year-old spent seven months on the sidelines until February this year because of a knee injury that had caused him to miss the Olympics, last year’s US Open as well as the Australian Open in January.

Nadal insists that the pain has only made him stronger.  “You need to be ready to suffer, to enjoy the suffering, and to be able to change the situation,” he said.

Meanwhile, 17-time Grand Slam champion Federer beat Argentina’s 48th-ranked Carlos Berlocq, 6-3, 6-2, 6-1. Federer and Nadal could potentially meet for the first time at the US Open in the quarter-finals. “I hope I’m going to be there,” said Federer. “The biggest mistake I can do is focus on Rafa right now. Clearly I would love a match with Rafa.”

Top seed Serena advances as Errani exits

Serena Williams breezed into the US Open third round while Italian fourth-seed Sara Errani became the biggest upset victim yet.

World number one Serena advanced her quest for a 17th Grand Slam title and fifth US Open crown by downing 77th-ranked Galina Voskoboeva 6-3, 6-0. “Galina played very well in the first set,” said Serena. “You can see how much she has improved. But I played pretty well myself.”

Meanwhile, last year’s semi-finalist Errani was in tears after falling to 83rd-ranked Flavia Pennetta 6-3, 6-1 in 71 minutes. “It was difficult,” said Errani. “The worst thing was the ‘fight’. Normally it’s the best thing I do on the court and today it was not good. I don’t know why.”

Aisam, Rojer progress to second round

Pakistan’s Aisamul Haq Qureshi and his Dutch partner Jean-Julien Rojer progressed into the second round of the US Open as they defeated Jerzy Janowicz and Lukas Kubot 2-6, 6-2, 6-3 in their opening match of the men’s doubles event.

The fifth-seeds took one hour and 39 minutes to beat their Polish opponents, hitting a combined 12 aces.

Aisam is now set to appear in the first round of the mixed doubles event alongside Zimbabwe’s Cara Black where the pair will face second-seeds Katarina Srebotnik and Nenad Zimonjic.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 31^st, 2013.

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