Shock Exit For Nadal In Shanghai – Roddick Still Rolling

Written by: Global Chick on 14th October 2011

Shock Exit For Nadal In Shanghai – Roddick Still Rolling

Rafael Nadal of Spain reacts after losing a set against Andy Murray of Great Britain during the finals of the 40th annual Rakuten Japan Open Tennis Championships in Tokyo, Japan, 09 October 2011. Murray won 3-6, 6-2, 6-0. EPA/EVERETT KENNEDY BROWN |

Germany’s Florian Mayer defeated the world number two Rafael Nadal 7-6 (5) 6-3 in the third round at the Shanghai Rolex Masters on Thursday.

The World No. 23 won his first ATP Tour title in the middle of September in Bucharest. Nadal took a 4-2 lead in the tiebreak but Mayer was too strong and was using his powerful serves to get out of the tricky situation. The German broke Nadal in the seventh game of the second set and with that advantage he took out the match and earned himself a spot in the Shanghai quarterfinals.

“It’s a really nice feeling. He’s such a great competitor on court. For sure it is the biggest win in my career. I cannot actually believe it right now,” Mayer said.

Nadal was disappointed with his loss today, “He played really well and I didn’t. For me today is a disappointing day. I think I was doing everything right, practising with good motivation, practising well in general. I am going to work hard for the next tournament.”

Mayer will now face another Spaniard Feliciano Lopez who downed World No. 10 Tomas Berdych 6-4 6-4. The left handed Lopez won his last title in Johannesburg in 2010. This year his best result for Lopez has been runner up in Belgrade in April.

Berdych won the China Open title last week when he defeated Marin Cilic in three sets in the final. The Czech is the No. 6 in the Battle for London and he was hoping to gain some more valuable points this week but failed.

American Andy Roddick had a comfortable win over difficult Spaniard Nicolas Almagro 6-3 6-4. The No. 10 seed has increased his chances to qualify for the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals in London by winning today.

Roddick admitted he had do work on his serve this morning, “I felt like I was not serving great for the first couple of rounds. Even last week, I feel like I was having to break two, three times to win a set. I cleaned that up a little bit today.”

Roddick faces the number three seed David Ferrer of Spain in the quarterfinals. Ferrer lost the first set 6-1 to his friend Juan Carlos Ferrero. Ferrer battled back and took the two following sets 7-5 6-2. Ferrer faced three match points in the second set when he was 4-5 down. “It was amazing. I had three match balls down. I think I did two points with my serve and one point I did a passing shot in the last moment. When I won this game, and after this game I make the break up very fast,” Ferrer said.

SCHEDULE – FRIDAY, 14 OCTOBER, 2011

STADIUM start 2:00 pm

[3] D Ferrer (ESP) vs [10] A Roddick (USA)

[12] A Dolgopolov (UKR) vs K Nishikori (JPN)

Not Before 6:00 PM

[15] F Mayer (GER) vs F Lopez (ESP)

Not Before 8:00 PM

[Q] M Ebden (AUS) vs [2] A Murray (GBR)

GRANDSTAND start 1:00 pm

[1] B Bryan (USA) / M Bryan (USA) vs [6] M Fyrstenberg (POL) / M Matkowski (POL)

[3] M Llodra (FRA) / N Zimonjic (SRB) vs [8] R Lindstedt (SWE) / H Tecau (ROU)

T Bellucci (BRA) / I Dodig (CRO) vs [4] M Bhupathi (IND) / L Paes (IND)