RAFA / RAFAEL NADAL SURVIVES SCARE IN DOHA, ROGER FEDERER COASTS INTO BRISBANE TENNIS SHOWDOWN AGAINST GRIGOR DIMITROV BY RICKY DIMON

Written by: Staff on 7th January 2016

RAFA / RAFAEL NADAL SURVIVES SCARE IN DOHA, ROGER FEDERER COASTS INTO BRISBANE TENNIS SHOWDOWN AGAINST GRIGOR DIMITROV BY RICKY DIMON

epa05091742 Rafael Nadal of Spain celebrates winning against Andrey Kuznetsov of Russia during their quarter final match at the Qatar ATP Open tennis tournament at the Khalifa Tennis Complex in Doha, Qatar, 07 January 2016. EPA/- |

Rafael Nadal held off a red-hot Andrey Kuznetsov 6-2, 5-7, 6-4 in the quarterfinals of the Qatar ExxonMobil Open on Thursday. Nadal needed two hours and eight minutes in what was his second three-setter of the week in order to reach the final four. He had previously been pushed the distance by Pablo Carreno Busta in round one.

But Kuznetsov was arguably even more dangerous than Carreno Busta. The Russian almost doubled Nadal’s winner count, but relative inexperience may have doomed him in the end. Kuznetsov dropped each of his last two service games and Nadal consolidated at 5-4 in the third to clinch victory.

“Kuznetsov played some amazing shots, so it was difficult to control the match,” Nadal explained. “It’s true that I missed my serve more than I wanted to, but I really only played one bad game–at 4-3 in the second set. His returns were amazing and his level was very high. Fortunately I played a great third set, with a lot of intensity.”

Next up for the world No. 5 is unseeded Illya Marchenko.

It has been a dream start to the season for Marchenko, who did not reach a single ATP semifinal in 2015. In fact, he has already matched his ATP tournament match win total from all of last year (three, and one of those wins last season came via retirement). Marchenko’s week began with a 6-7(8), 6-3, 6-2 upset of defending champion David Ferrer and he has not looked back. The 94th-ranked Ukrainian ousted Teymuraz Gabashvili in the second round and Jeremy Chardy in the quarters, both in straight sets. But Marchenko took an injury timeout for a back problem late in his contest against Chardy and afterward he did not sound like he felt 100 percent.

World No. 1 Novak Djokovic joined Nadal and Marchenko in the semis by defeating Leonardo Mayer 6-3, 7-5. Mayer led by a break in each of the two sets but could not seal the deal. Serving at 5-4 in the second set, the Argentine got broken at love with two missed overheads, a shanked backhand wide, and a shanked forehand long.

At the Brisbane International, meanwhile, Roger Federer kicked off his 2016 campaign with a 6-2, 6-1 beatdown of Tobias Kamke that required only 55 minutes.

“I’m extremely pleased I was able to win today,” the defending champion commented. “In practice…it’s been great. I have been hitting the ball well. I am where I want to be.”

Where he’ll be on Friday is a tennis court with Grigor Dimitrov on the other side of the net. Federer has won all three of their previous meetings and is 6-0 in total sets against the Bulgarian. They most recently faced each other at this same Brisbane event last year, when the Swiss cruised 6-2, 6-2.