RAFAEL NADAL OFF TO WINNING STYLE IN BUENOS AIRES, JO-WILLIE TSONGA ALSO IN ACTION ON FRIDAY’S TENNIS SCHEDULE

Written by: Staff on 11th February 2016

RAFAEL NADAL OFF TO WINNING STYLE IN BUENOS AIRES, JO-WILLIE TSONGA ALSO IN ACTION ON FRIDAY'S TENNIS SCHEDULE |

Defending champ @rafaelnadal advances to the last eight at the @argentinaopenatp with a 6-4 6-4 win over Juan #Monaco. #ATP #tennis #BuenosAires #argentinaopen #Nadal Photo: Argentina Open/Sergio Llamera – Photo by @atpworldtour via Instagram.

By Ricky Dimon

Rafael Nadal’s Argentina Open title defense did not get off to a convincing start on Thursday night. But it started nonetheless.

In a rematch of the 2015 final, Nadal held off Juan Monaco 6-4, 6-4 during second-round action. It was Nadal’s first appearance since a surprising first-round Australian Open loss to Fernando Verdasco. And plenty of rust was on display, too. The world No. 5 blooped in his first serves with no significant speed to go along with consistency (84 percent) that was more alarming than impressive. Nadal got broken three times but more than made up for those blemishes by earning five scalps of the Monaco serve.

The Argentine, of course, was even more rusty than Nadal. Because of a wrist injury, Monaco had not played since last August before taking the court against Marco Cecchinato on Tuesday. The 31-year-old cruised through that contest 6-1, 6-3 but did not have enough to get the job done against an opponent as formidable as Nadal.

Joining Nadal in the quarterfinals are Paolo Lorenzi, David Ferrer, and Pablo Cuevas. Lorenzi needed three sets to beat Diego Schwartzman, while Ferrer and Cuevas earned respective straight-set wins over Renzo Olivo and Santiago Giraldo.

Up next for Nadal on quarterfinal Friday is Lorenzi. Their only previous meeting came five seasons ago on the clay courts of Rome, where Nadal survived 6-7(5), 6-4, 6-0 victory. It has already been a productive and hard-fought week for Lorenzi, who has advanced with three-set victories over Schwartzman Pablo Andujar. The 34-year-old Italian dropped the opening set on each occasion before fighting back. Enjoying a career resurgence of sorts, Lorenzi has climbed to No. 52 in the world and sports five ATP-level match wins in 2016.

Also on Friday, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Nicolas Almagro will be going head-to-head for the seventh time in their careers. All six of their previous contests have gone Tsonga’s way, including three on Almagro’s preferred clay-court surface. The Frenchman is 6-1 in total sets on clay against Almagro and he has taken 11 of their last 12 sets overall. Their first-ever encounter was by far the most competitive. At the 2010 Aussie Open, Tsonga prevailed in a fourth-round thriller 6-3, 6-4, 4-6, 6-7(6), 9-7.

Almagro did not make too much progress in 2015 as he returned from a bad foot injury, but he is starting to show signs of a resurrection. The 71st-ranked Spaniard advanced one round in Melbourne and so far this week he has taken out Albert Montanes and Federico Delbonis. Tsonga earned an opening bye as the No. 3 seed before dominating Leonardo Mayer 6-1, 6-2 on Wednesday night.