RAFAEL NADAL SETS CUEVAS CLASH AFTER DEFEATING VESELY

Written by: Staff on 30th July 2015

RAFAEL NADAL SETS CUEVAS CLASH AFTER DEFEATING VESELY

Rafael Nadal of Spain returns the ball to Jiri Vesely of the Czech Republic during their second round match at the ATP tennis tournament in Hamburg, Germany, 30 July 2015. EPA/DANIEL BOCKWOLDT |

Rafael Nadal beats young gun Jiri Vesely to reach the Hamburg quarter-finals

Top seed Rafael Nadal beat Jiri Vesely 6-4, 7-6(2) on Thursday to reach the quarter-finals at the bet-at-home Open. The 2008 champion now holds a 23-6 match record on clay this season as he looks to add to his 46 clay-court titles.

Jiri Vesely of the Czech Republic returns the ball to Rafael Nadal of Spain during their second round match at the ATP tennis tournament in Hamburg, Germany, 30 July 2015. EPA/DANIEL BOCKWOLDT

Nadal and Vesely traded breaks to start the match, but Nadal clinched the crucial break in the third game. The Spaniard saved a break point as he served for the opening set, but ultimately clinched it. The two again traded breaks early on in the second set, but in the fifth game, Nadal broke on his fourth opportunity of the game to grasp a 3-2 lead.

Vesely would save a match point in the second set due to an untimely double fault from the Spaniard. In the eventual tie-break, Nadal grabbed a mini-break and went on to claim victory after two hours and 11 minutes.

Nadal will next face fifth seed Pablo Cuevas, who battled past Jerzy Janowicz 6-3, 4-6, 6-2.

Pablo Cuevas of Uruguay returns the ball to Jerzy Janowicz of Poland during their second round match at the ATP tennis tournament in Hamburg, Germany, 30 July 2015. EPA/DANIEL BOCKWOLDT

The 29-year-old Cuevas, a semi-finalist in Hamburg in 2009, notched his 23rd win of the season as he defeated Janowicz in one hour and 34 minutes. Twenty of Cuevas’ victories this year have come on clay, highlighted by winning his third ATP World Tour title in Sao Paulo (d. Vanni) and reaching the final in Istanbul (l. to Federer).

It will be the second meeting of the season for Nadal and Cuevas. The Mallorcan leads their FedEx ATP Head2Head series 1-0, having won in three sets when the pair met in February in Rio de Janeiro.

Fourth seed Andreas Seppi finished strongly to beat German wild card Florian Mayer 4-6, 6-2, 6-3 in one hour and 37 minutes. The Italian goes on to face either countryman Simone Bolelli or Spanish wild card Jaume Munar as he bids to reach his fourth ATP World Tour semi-final of the season.

( Courtesy of the ATP and Original Link – http://www.atpworldtour.com/en/news/hamburg-2015-thursday-nadal-cuevas-seppi )

Topics: Atp World Tour, Bet At Home Open, Hamburg, Jiri Vesely, Pablo Cuevas, Rafa Nadal, Tennis

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10sBalls_com says:

July 30, 2015 at 2:01 pm

-@RafaelNadal SETS @PabloCuevas22 CLASH AFTER DEFEATING @jiri_vesely- http://t.co/N6DelajCiv #tennis #Hamburg #Nadal #betathomeOpen