NADAL FALLS IN BEIJING DOUBLES MATCH, WILL BEGIN SINGLES CAMPAIGN ON TUESDAY BY RICKY DIMON

Written by: Staff on 29th September 2014

NADAL FALLS IN BEIJING DOUBLES MATCH, WILL BEGIN SINGLES CAMPAIGN ON TUESDAY BY RICKY DIMON

epa04092309 Spanish Rafael Nadal returns a ball to his compatriot Albert Montanes during their Open of Rio de Janiero game in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 20 February 2014. EPA/Antonio Lacerda |

Rafael Nadal got in some much-needed match practice on Monday ahead of his first-round singles match at the China Open, albeit in a losing effort. Nadal, who last played at Wimbledon before being sidelined by a wrist injury, teamed up with fellow Spaniard Pablo Andujar and fell to Tomas Berdych and John Isner 7-5, 4-6, 10-4.

The only two service breaks of the afternoon came in back-to-back games, but in different sets. Berdych and Isner broke Andujar at 6-5 to steal the opener before the 6’10” American was broken right away in the second. In the ensuing super-tiebreaker, Nadal and Andujar briefly led 3-2 with a mini-break only to see their opponents run off seven straight points to seize complete control.

Berdych and Isner blasted 10 aces compared to just one for the Spaniards. The winning duo served at 73 percent and won 80 percent of its first-serve points.

Richard Gasquet of France returns the ball to Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic during the first day’s single match of the Davis Cup World Group semi-final between France and Czech Republic at the Roland Garros stadium in Paris, France, 12 September 2014. EPA/YOAN VALAT

Nadal can now focus on singles, which will begin for him on Tuesday against Richard Gasquet. This will be their 13th head-to-head meeting at the ATP level and all 12 of their previous encounters have gone Nadal’s way, including six on hard courts. They most recently faced each other last fall at the Paris indoors, where Nadal rolled 6-4, 6-1.

Interestingly, this is not the first time Nadal and Gasquet have squared off following an extended layoff for one of the two men. In 2009, Gasquet returned from a four-month suspension and played his first main-draw match against Nadal at the U.S. Open, where the Spaniard dominated 6-2, 6-2, 6-3. While Nadal is the one who has been absent this time, Gasquet has been playing almost every week–albeit inconsistently. The Frenchman bounced back from a U.S. Open third-round setback against Gael Monfils to crush Tomas Berdych in Davis Cup, but he was upset by Juan Monaco in last week’s Shenzhen quarters.

Meanwhile, U.S. Open champion Marin Cilic returned on Monday and got back to his winning ways by taking care of Chinese wild card Yan Bai 6-3, 6-4. Cilic saved all four of the break points he faced to prevail in one hour and 21 minutes.

“It’s important for me to keep focusing on the improvement of my game and try to recreate the game I was playing at the U.S. Open,” the world No. 9 explained. “It’s going to be a process for me at all the tournaments to keep my level at the high point where I want it to be.”

Cilic is joined in the second round by Grigor Dimitrov, Vasek Pospisil, Joao Sousa, and Viktor Troicki.

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

Topics: Beijing, China Open, John Isner, Pablo Andujar, Rafa, Richard Gasquet, Ricky Dimon, Tennis, tennis dubs, Tomas Berdych

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10sBalls_com says:

September 29, 2014 at 11:20 am

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RD_Tennistalk says:

September 29, 2014 at 11:24 am

RT @10sBalls_com: @RafaelNadal FALLS IN #BEIJING DOUBLES MATCH, WILL BEGIN SINGLES CAMPAIGN ON TUESDAY BY @RD_Tennistalk- http://t.co/uWLKo…