Nadal and Verdasco Surprise Losses In Rogers Cup, Montréal

Written by: Global Chick on 11th August 2011

Nadal and Verdasco Surprise Losses In Rogers Cup, Montréal |

Super Spaniard Rafael Nadal suffered a surprise second round loss against Croat Ivan Dodig yesterday at the Rogers Cup in Montréal, Canada.

The World No. 2 was the Champion at the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 in Canada in both 2005 and 2008. This year the 25-year-old has won Roland Garros, the Barcelona tournament and the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 in Monte Carlo. Nadal was a finalist in Indian Wells, Miami, Madrid and Rome Masters Series tournaments and he was the runner up at this year’s Wimbledon. His win/loss record this year is 51-8.

The man who took out Rafa today in three sets 1-6 7-6 (5) 7-6 (5) was Ivan Dodig of Croatia. The 26-year-old is ranked No. 41 on the ATP Tour Singles Ranking. He is the current Champion of the Zagreb tournament and the runner up in s-Hertogenbosch before Wimbledon. His win/loss record is 20-15.

The match lasted over three hours. Nadal was up 6-1 3-1 before Dodig started to get into the match. “He played very well, very aggressive. He didn’t feel the pressure in the important moments. And at the end of the match, probably I was a little bit unlucky today,” Nadal said.

Dodig will face Janko Tipsarevic of Serbia in the third round. Tipsarevic also played a three-hour match against the number fifteen seed Spaniard Fernando Verdasco. Tipsarevic won 6-4 6-7 (5) 6-3 despite serving a lot of double faults.

American Mardy Fish advanced today after an easy straight set win over Feliciano Lopez of Spain 6-2 6-3. World No. 8 Fish will take on Ernests Gulbis of Latvia. Gulbis was leading 6-4 1-0 when his opponent Michael Llodra of France had to pull out with an injury.

Serb Viktor Troicki had a three set 6-4 3-6 6-2 win over American John Isner. He will now meet the number five seed Gael Monfils. The two have never played each other.