RAFAEL “RAFA” NADAL WINS AGAIN IN MADRID OPEN TENNIS & WILL NOW FACE GRIGOR DIMITROV IN THE QUARTERFINALS BY RICKY DIMON

Written by: Staff on 7th May 2015

RAFAEL "RAFA" NADAL WINS AGAIN IN MADRID OPEN TENNIS & WILL NOW FACE GRIGOR DIMITROV IN THE QUARTERFINALS BY RICKY DIMON

epaselect epa04736809 Spain's Rafael Nadal returns the ball to Italy's Simone Bolelli during their third round match of the Mutua Madrid Open tennis tournament at the Caja Magica tennis complex in Madrid, Spain, 07 May 2015. EPA/JUANJO MARTIN |

Two-time defending champion Rafael Nadal advanced to the quarterfinals of the Mutua Madrid Open with a 6-2, 6-2 rout of Simone Bolelli on Thursday afternoon. Nadal needed just one hour and 12 minutes–a blink of an eye by his standards–to set up a showdown with Grigor Dimitrov.

Spain’s Rafael Nadal in action against Italy’s Simone Bolelli during their third round match of the Mutua Madrid Open tennis tournament at the Caja Magica tennis complex in Madrid, Spain, 07 May 2015. EPA/JUANJO MARTIN

“I managed to maintain a good level throughout the match,” the Spaniard commented. “It’s not been incredible, but I think it’s an acceptable level. I’m happy with the level I had today…. It’s an important victory. I made it to the quarterfinals. At the moment, we have to be happy about everything that I achieve. I have to be happy about all the victories.”

Nadal has had plenty of them against Dimitrov–five in five tries to be exact. The former world No. 1 last beat the Bulgarian around this time last year via a 6-2, 6-2 semifinal thumping at the Rome Masters. Their only other clay-court encounter came at the 2013 Monte-Carlo Masters, where Nadal prevailed 6-2, 2-6, 6-4.

Also slumping prior to Madrid, Dimitrov has taken out Donald Young, Fabio Fognini, and Stan Wawrinka. The world No. 11 is 17-8 on the season and still in search of his first final appearance.

Bulgaria’s Grigor Dimitrov returns the ball to Swiss Stanislas Wawrinka during their third round match of the Mutua Madrid Open tennis tournament at the Caja Magica tennis complex in Madrid, Spain, 07 May 2015. EPA/CHEMA MOYA

“I know what to expect from him,” Dimitrov said of Nadal. “It’s one of those days where I really want to be out there on the court, playing against him on clay. I feel like I have been playing good tennis, so why not go out there and have fun, but at the same time, I know why I’m out there.”

In other quarterfinal action, Tomas Berdych will be going up against John Isner. Nobody outside of Philipp Kohlschreiber in the third rounds of U.S. Opens has owned Isner quite like Berdych. The Czech has won four consecutive meetings between the two players and six of the last seven to improve to 6-2 lifetime against Isner. Since losing the 2012 Winston-Salem final 3-6, 6-4, 7-6(9), Berdych has taken eight consecutive sets from the 6’10” American and not a single one of those eight has progressed to a tiebreaker. They most recently faced each other last fall on the hard courts of Beijing, where Berdych rolled 6-1, 6-4.

Both big hitters are in the midst of outstanding weeks. Berdych has had no trouble disposing of Frenchmen Richard Gasquet and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. Isner snagged the 16th and final seed but unlike Berdych did not get a first-round bye. The world No. 18 booked his place in the last eight by defeating Adrian Mannarino, Thomaz Bellucci, and Nick Kyrgios. Isner needed three sets to get past Bellucci and Kyrgios even though he was one point away from a straight-set victory on each occasion.

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

Topics: Atp, GRIGOR DIMITROV, Madrid Open, Mutua Madrid Open, nadal, Rafa, Ricky Dimon, Sports, Tennis

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10sBalls_com says:

May 7, 2015 at 2:13 pm

-@RafaelNadal WINS AGAIN IN #MadridOpen #TENNIS & WILL NOW FACE @GrigorDimitrov IN THE QUARTERFINALS BY @Dimonator- http://t.co/YqmDIntBpq
Dimonator says:

May 7, 2015 at 5:22 pm

RT @10sBalls_com: -@RafaelNadal WINS AGAIN IN #MadridOpen #TENNIS & WILL NOW FACE @GrigorDimitrov IN THE QUARTERFINALS BY @Dimonator- http:…