Roundup: Nadal, Federer into quarterfinals in Shanghai, Zverev out
0 Comment(s)
Print
E-mail Xinhua, October 13, 2017
SHANGHAI, Oct. 12 (Xinhua) -- Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer both continued their campaign with straight-set wins at the Shanghai Rolex Masters, the penultimate ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournament of the season here on Thursday, while the third-seeded Alexander Zverev bid farewell to the Asian Swing after losing to 2016 ATP Comeback Player Juan Martin Del Potro in a tough three setter.
Top-seeded Nadal only needed 62 minutes to take out Italian Fabio Fognini 6-3, 6-1, which was the Spaniard's 14th consecutive victory since his success in the US Open.
"I played a very good match. I don't know how many mistakes, how many unforced errors, but very few. And I played very well in all aspects," the 31-year-old world no.1 said after the match, "I have been doing the things very well. So otherwise, of course, big result. 6-3, 6-1 against a player like him that he can winning Verdasco and Pouille, two good matches, for sure today is a very good result for me, and being in quarterfinals of course is great news."
Nadal, who is pursuing his maiden title in Shanghai, will next face his good friend, no.6 seed Grigor Dimitrov in the quarterfinals. It was the pair's second meeting in as many weeks as the 16-time Grand Slam champion Nadal defeated Dimitrov 6-3, 4-6, 6-1 in Beijing last week.
Dimitrov knocked out 10th-seeded Sam Querrey of the United States 6-3, 7-6 (3) on Thursday.
World no.2 Federer also extended his good run in Shanghai with a straightforward 6-4, 6-2 victory over qualifier Alexandr Dolgopolov of Ukraine.
The Swiss superstar broke his opponent's serve three times during the 61-minute fight, one from the first set and two from the second, without losing any of his own and easily cruised into his fourth quarterfinals in Shanghai.
"I served very well today, 80% first serves. So when that happens, then the rallies are short there, too. So I think it was really a fast-court match. He was standing on the baseline or in the baseline on my serves, so that also changes things around a bit," the 19-time Grand Slam winner said after the match.
The 36-year-old will next play Richard Gasquet, who defeated his fellow Frenchman Gilles Simon with a back-and-forth 7-5, 6-7(5), 6-3 victory in two hours and 40 minutes.
NO.16 seed Juan Martin del Potro of Argentina produced one of his best performances of the season on Thursday, overcoming one-set defict to beat third-seeded Alexander Zverev of Germany 3-6, 7-6(5), 6-4 to set a quarter-final clash against Viktor Troicki of Serbia, who beat American no.12 seed John Isner on Thursday.
The 20-year-old Zverev, who has already collected 5 ATP World Tour titles this season, lost his temper when broken by the Argentine at 2-2 in the decider and flung his racquet down to the ground.
"I think he played a great match, maybe one of the best of the season. I think we both played pretty well from the baseline...but for me, in my eyes it's impossible to lose a match where I get broken one time and I still lose it except if you play against Isner or Karlovic, someone like that," Zverev said after the match.
Zverev, who has secured berth in the ATP Finals in London, came to the match strong and raced to a 3-0 lead in the first set within 10 minutes. But Del Potro found his form in the second set, scored 5 love games and levelled the set-score with a 7-5 victory in the tiebreak.
"I think I didn't play well the first game of the match with my serve, but when I saw the stats on the TV, and I was winning more points returning than him, but I lost the set. I say to me, Okay, you're playing good. You have to just try to keep going. And that's what I did for the second and the third set," the 2009 US Open champion Del Potro said.
The other match of the quarterfinals action will be played between fourth-seeded Marin Cilic of Croatia and Albert Ramos-Vinolas of Spain. Enditem
Go to Forum >>0 Comment(s)