RAFAEL NADAL ADVANCES IN STUTTGART, WILL FACE BERNIE TOMIC IN QUARTERFINALS BY RICKY DIMON

Written by: on 11th June 2015
ATP tennis tournament Stuttgart
RAFAEL NADAL ADVANCES IN STUTTGART, WILL FACE BERNIE TOMIC IN QUARTERFINALS BY RICKY DIMON

epa04793888 Rafael Nadal of Spain in action during the round of 16 match against Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus at the ATP tennis tournament in Stuttgart, Germany, 11 June 2015. EPA/MARIJAN MURAT  |

Rafael Nadal struggled in his first grass-court match of the season but managed to get the job done during second-round action at the Mercedes Cup on Thursday. Nadal held off Marcos Baghdatis 7-6(5), 6-7(4), 6-2 in two hours and 40 minutes.

 

“It was a little bit of a strange match,” the world No. 10 reflected. “I’m happy to be through. It’s an important victory for me. The first match on grass is always very difficult…. At the beginning I didn’t play my best, but I finished the match much better than how I started.”

 

Rafael Nadal of Spain in action during the round of 16 match against Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus at the ATP tennis tournament in Stuttgart, Germany, 11 June 2015. EPA/MARIJAN MURAT

The quarterfinal showdown fans wanted see would have been Nadal vs. Tommy Haas. They will still get a good one on Friday, but it will be Bernard Tomic facing the top-seeded Spaniard instead of Haas. Tomic ended the 37-year-old German’s comeback tournament with a 7-6(6), 6-2 victory.

 

Haas seemed to have the first set wrapped up when he served at 6-4 in the tiebreaker, as he struck a perfect backhand approach shot. But Tomic came up with the shot of the day, an on-the-run backhand pass. The Aussie promptly won three more points in succession to steal the opening frame of play. Tomic maintained control the rest of the way and advanced after one hour and 16 minutes.

 

Nadal and Tomic will be going head-to-head for the third time in their careers on Friday. Both of their previous encounters have come at the Australian Open and Nadal has never surendered a set. He prevailed 6-2, 7-5, 6-3 in 2011 and advanced via retirement in 2014 after taking the first set 6-4.

 

Although Nadal’s grass-court campaign got off to a bit of a rocky start on Thursday, he is now 30-10 on the season and looking for just his second title of the year. Tomic did not drop a set in victories earlier this week over Haas and Jan-Lennard Struff. The 24th-ranked Australian has always been adept on grass and he should have no trouble handling Nadal’s heavy topspin with his two-handed backhand–especially on this particular surface. With the top seed still struggling, a confident Tomic will have a good chance at pulling off an upset.

 

Philipp Kohlschreiber and Gael Monfils will be facing each other for the 12th time in their careers on Friday. Monfils is leading the head-to-head series 9-2, but Kohlschreiber won their only previous grass-court encounter. That also came in Germany during the buildup to Wimbledon, as Kohlschreiber treated the home crowd to a 6-3, 6-3 victory in the 2011 Halle semifinals. The two veterans most recently squared off earlier this season in a Davis Cup hard-court rubber, with Monfils going into hostile territory and notching a point for France via a 6-4, 7-5, 7-6(4) decision.

Philipp Kohlschreiber of Germany in action against Alexandr Dolgopolov of Ukraine during their first round match of the ATP tennis tournament in Stuttgart, Germany, 08 June 2015. EPA/MARIJAN MURAT

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A difficult draw is off to a remarkably routine start for Kohlschreiber, who is a mediocre 16-13 on the season following a pair of wins this week. The world No. 29 disposed of Alexandr Dolgopolov 6-3, 6-4 before coasting past Jerzy Janowicz 6-4, 6-4. Monfils got a first-round bye as the No. 4 seed then held off Andreas Haider-Maurer 7-6(6), 7-6(5) on Wednesday. The world No. 16 is a solid 23-9 for his 2015 campaign and he is coming off a fourth-round showing at Roland Garros. Current form favors Monfils, but the surface and home-court advantage should see Kohlschreiber through to a hard-fought victory.

 

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

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