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October 15, 2015

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Home » Sports » Tennis

Nadal survives, Djokovic sizzles

By Ma Yue | October 15, 2015, Thursday | Print Edition

RAFAEL Nadal, fresh from his runner-up finish at the China Open, survives a marathon second-round encounter at the Shanghai Rolex Masters last night while Novak Djokovic and Andy Murry have smooth rides but seventh-seeded David Ferrer becomes the second top seed to fall following second seed Roger Federer’s early exit on Tuesday.

Spaniard Ferrer, who was obviously not in his best form, took on rising star Bernard Tomic at the Qizhong Tennis Center’s Grandstand for his first match in Shanghai. Too error-prone, he quickly lost his first two service games and although he broke one back in the eighth, Tomic claimed the first set 6-4.

The second set went along Tomic’s pace, the Australian saving eight break points out of nine during the whole match, bringing up triple match-point when Ferrer’s return sailed wide. Tomic closed the set 6-2.

“Very, very pleased. I played very well,” said Tomic, who will turn 23 next week. “It was tough conditions, playing a very difficult player.”

The 20th-ranked Tomic described 2015 as his best year, and himself “smarter and wiser”. He will next take on Frenchman Richard Gasquet, who overcame Canada’s Vasek Pospisil 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 in another second-round match.

Despite the loss, Ferrer still leads all other contenders by more than 1,000 race points for the eighth and final spot at the ATP World Tour Finals in London.

Top seed Djokovic needed only one hour to see off his second-round opponent Martin Klizan, winning 6-2, 6-1. He won 92% of his second serve points when the figure for the Slovakian was 29%. Klizan eliminated China’s top-ranked wildcard Zhang Ze on Monday. He gave away all his racquets to fans as gift after yesterday’s loss.

Third seed Murray also had a comparatively easy outing, beating American Steve Johnson 6-2, 6-4 in their first ever meeting. The 2010 and 2011 champion arrived early for the tournament, reaching Shanghai on Friday, which was helpful.

“It does take a bit of time to get used to the conditions here. But for me, that was a big positive in getting here early this year, that I’ve had five days to get used to it.”

Also meeting for the first time were Asian No. 1 Kei Nishikori of Japan and 20-year-old Australian Nick Kyrgios.

Nishikori, coached by former French Open champion Michael Chang, had to fight back from a set down against an emotional Kyrgios to win 1-6, 6-4, 6-4.

After winning the first set in 30 minutes, Kyrgios lost his temper at the end of the second set, smacking a ball in frustration towards the baseline, for which he was assessed a code violation. He then saved three match points in the third set before the sixth seed closed it out.

Nishikori said he tried to be more patient after struggling with his serve early in the match, winning just one point on his second serve in the opening set.

Nadal battled gamely against the big-serving Ivo Karlovic in the last match on center court, dropping his serve in the first set but finally emerging with a 7-5, 6-7 (4), 7-6 (4) victory. The eighth seed, who is yet to win an ATP 1000 title this year, will next take on No. 9 seed Milos Raonic, after the Canadian battled past Nadal’s Spanish compatriot Roberto Bautista Agut 6-4, 6-7 (3), 7-6 (5).

Nadal, who took a train to travel from Beijing to Shanghai, earlier proclaimed himself happy with his “fit and healthy” condition. “One of the biggest problems that I had during the whole season, I was not able to control my emotions on court — the last couple of months, that is much better. That’s a very important step for me to, first of all, enjoy, and second thing, to have the possibility to practice and to compete at the level that I want.”

In other second-round matches, Czech Tomas Berdych beat Jack Sock of the US 7-6 (3), 4-6, 6-4; and Gilles Simon of France rallied past Argentine Leonardo Mayer 6-7 (0), 6-4, 6-2. Stan Wawrinka, Kevin Anderson and John Isner also advanced.

In doubles, Daniel Nestor of Canada and France’s Edouard Roger-Vasselin beat Leander Paes of India and John Peers of Australia 6-3, 6-1 while the Chinese pair Zhang Ze and Gong Maoxin lost to Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah of Colombia, also in straight sets.

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