Rafael Nadal came up the winner but was far from pleased with scheduling procedures at the joint ATP-WTA Rio Open after completing a quarter-final win in the wee small hours of 3:21 a.m.
The Spanish defending champion beat on-form Uruguayan Pablo Cuevas, winner of 31 of his last 32 clay matches including last week’s Sao Paulo tournament, The Nadal contest started after 1 a.m. following a programme of four previous matches, which all exceeded the two-hour mark.
The first evening session contest was the longest of all, with Italy’s Fabio Fognini requiring three and a quarter hours to beat Federico Delbonis. Nadal’s marathon only added time to the longest day as it went for 2:05 with Cuevas mailing it in during the 6-0 final set.
Nadal later chided the organisation and said he was not proud to have competed in a match which finished second-latest in the record books for a non-grand slam. The contest ended just seven minutes shy of the record set in Tokyo in 2006 by Novak Djokovic and Benjamin Becker under the roof of the Ariake Colosseum on a day of rain which forced the entire programme indoors onto one covered court.
Nadal took his Brazilian career record to a perfect 18-0 with the win. He also provided a moment of levity when he had to change his white Nike shorts under a towel after playing most of the match while wearing them back-to-front.
“Rafa damaged his shorts somehow and played a game with the new ones on backwards! then he had to fix them…” – Photo by @happyslamtennis via Instagram.
“It was a complicated match,” said the Spaniard, now 321-24 on clay. “I knew I was going to play against a player who won Sao Paulo, who’s playing well, who came here with confidence and that’s how it was. I’m happy because this was an important victory for me.”
Content via bob Larson’s tennis news service.
Topics: Atp, Rafa, Rio De Janeiro, Rio Open, Tennis
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RT @10sBalls_com: EVEN ROCK STARS DON’T START CONCERTS AFTER MIDNIGHT / BUT @RafaelNadal STARTS MATCH IN #RioOpen @ 1 AM? http://t.co/BID3P…
RT @10sBalls_com: EVEN ROCK STARS DON’T START CONCERTS AFTER MIDNIGHT / BUT @RafaelNadal STARTS MATCH IN #RioOpen @ 1 AM? http://t.co/BID3P…
RT @10sBalls_com: EVEN ROCK STARS DON’T START CONCERTS AFTER MIDNIGHT / BUT @RafaelNadal STARTS MATCH IN #RioOpen @ 1 AM? http://t.co/BID3P…