Nadal Wins Epic Encounter – Djokovic Steps Into the Next Round

Written by: Global Chick on 19th August 2011

Nadal Wins Epic Encounter - Djokovic Steps Into the Next Round

Rafael Nadal of Spain reacts as he plays Novak Djokovic of Serbia during the men's singles final of the Wimbledon Championships at the All England Lawn Tennis Club, in London, Britain, 03 July 2011. EPA/GEOFF CADDICK |

World No. 2 Rafael Nadal and World No. 21 Fernando Verdasco played for three hours and 38 minutes today at the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati.

Rafael Nadal won in three tiebreak sets 7-6 (5) 7-6 (4) 7-6 (9) to reach the quarterfinals of the Cincinnati ATP World Tour Masters1000. Nadal came back from being a break down in both the first two sets. The Spanish number one had five match points before he could clinch the match.

“You enjoy always a good match, but when you lose in this way, of course it’s not easy, because it could have been a big win,” Verdasco said.

Rafa has never won the title in Cincinnati, his best performances are two semi-finals. The Spaniard will play American Mardy Fish in the quarterfinals. The number seven seed Fish overcame France’s Richard Gasquet 7-5 7-5 earlier today.

Mardy Fish has had a great run during the American summer swing. Last week he lost in the final in Montréal to Novak Djokovic, he was the runner up in Los Angeles where he lost to Ernests Gulbis, and he won the Atlanta tournament beating John Isner in the finals.

The World No. 7 has played Nadal on six occasions but has never managed to beat him. Nadal won their last meeting in the quarterfinal at Wimbledon this year.

“If you want to play someone like Rafa, you hope that he plays a match that’s four hours long before you play him. That’s as physical as it gets. It’s hot out there, so I’m sure he’ll be pretty tired,” Fish said jokingly.

World No. 1 Novak Djokovic advanced into the quarterfinals today after a win against Radek Stepanek 6-3 6-3. Djokovic is looking to win his sixth ATP World Tour Masters 1000 this season.

The Serb has been struggling with his serve this week, “There are periods of the match where I serve okay and then periods where I serve pretty bad, but that’s ok. It all happens. I played so many matches, and they caught up to me a little bit. It’s expected that some part of my game is not working 100%.”

The 24-year-old will play the winner of Philipp Kohlschreiber of Germany and Gael Monfils of France.

British No. 1 Andy Murray is also through to the quarterfinals after a two set win over Alex Bogomolov Jr 6-2 7-5. Murray is looking for some match practice after failing to get past the second round last week in Canada.

“It was good. I played better today. I was hitting the ball a little bit cleaner today. I would still definitely like to do things better,” Murray said. Bogomolov had a surprise win against World No. 10 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the round before.

Murray will face Frenchman Gilles Simon, who was too good for the number five seed David Ferrer of Spain. Simon downed Ferrer in three sets 6-4 6-7(3) 6-4.