NADAL RETURNS TO ACTION ON MONDAY, FELLOW SPANIARD VERDASCO ALSO ON BEIJING SCHEDULE BY RICKY DIMON

Written by: Staff on 28th September 2014

NADAL RETURNS TO ACTION ON MONDAY, FELLOW SPANIARD VERDASCO ALSO ON BEIJING SCHEDULE BY RICKY DIMON

epa04201761 Rafael Nadal of Spain returns the ball to Kei Nishikori of Japan during the men's final match of the Mutua Madrid Open tennis tournament at Caja Magica complex in Madrid, Spain, 11 May 2014. EPA/SERGIO BARRENECHEA |

Rafael Nadal’s first-round singles match against Richard Gasquet is not on Monday’s China Open schedule, but the world No. 2 will be back in action in a different capacity. After being sidelined for three months with a wrist injury, Nadal is teaming up with Pablo Andujar in the doubles draw and they will kick off their campaign against Tomas Berdych and John Isner.

“The last part of the season remains,” Nadal explained. “I am going to try to be ready for it. I don’t know in which condition I am going to be in, in terms of tennis, in these two tournaments (Beijing and Shanghai), but I hope to practice and play as much as possible to be in rhythm again.”

The two veteran Spaniards have a 1-1 lifetime match record together following a second-round showing last summer at the Rogers Cup. Berdych and Isner paired up earlier this year in Madrid, where they rolled through their first match before withdrawing. They have opposite records against Nadal: Berdych is 1-0 (2011 Montreal first round) and Isner is 0-1 (2012 Indian Wells final).

Among those beginning their singles weeks are Grigor Dimitrov and Fernando Verdasco. They will be going head-to-head for the second time in their careers on Monday. Their only previous encounter came last year on the clay courts of Bastad, where Verdasco prevailed 7-6(3), 5-7, 7-5.

Fernando Verdasco of Spain hits a return to Marcel Granollers of Spain in their first round match of the Western & Southern Open tennis tournament at the Linder Tennis Center in Mason, Ohio, USA, 11 August 2014. EPA/TANNEN MAURY

Dimitrov had started to post some great results at the time, but he is now far more of a consistent performer. The 23-year-old Bulgarian is 41-13 in 2014 and he up to No. 10 in the world, in part thanks to three titles in the last seven months.

At the other end of the spectrum is Verdasco, who is a modest 21-16 for the season and is struggling down at 33rd in the rankings. The Spaniard has not won more than two matches at any tournament since Roland Garros, but at the same time he has not suffered a first-round loss since Wimbledon. Verdasco is coming off a disappointing second-round exit at the U.S. Open, where he fell to Andrey Kuznetsov in five sets.

Ricky contributes to 10sballs.com and also maintains his own tennis website, The Grandstand.

Topics: Beijing, China Open, Fernando Verdasco, Rafa, Rafael Nadal, Ricky Dimon, Tennis, Tennis News

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10sBalls_com says:

September 28, 2014 at 4:14 pm

@RafaelNadal RETURNS TO ACTION ON MONDAY, FELLOW SPANIARD @FerVerdasco ALSO ON #BEIJING SCHEDULE BY @RD_Tennistalk- http://t.co/3JDRITN63D
RD_Tennistalk says:

September 28, 2014 at 4:51 pm

RT @10sBalls_com: @RafaelNadal RETURNS TO ACTION ON MONDAY, FELLOW SPANIARD @FerVerdasco ALSO ON #BEIJING SCHEDULE BY @RD_Tennistalk- http:…