In the most electrifying match of the combined tournament this week, world No. 2 Rafael Nadal advanced on Thursday afternoon to the quarterfinals at the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati after closing out fellow Spaniard Fernando Verdasco 7-6(5), 6-7(4), 7-6(9) in three hours and 38 minute match on his fifth match point.
“The truth is that I am very happy. Very content with the victory. It was a tough match for both us. Now I’m looking ahead to my next round and I hope to continue playing well here in Cincinnati,” said Nadal, who lost his doubles match with close friend Marc Lopez following his singles victory.
The match opened up with three service breaks before Verdasco finally found his groove and held serve. Up a break at 3-2 and serving, Verdasco was broken after being up 40-15. Both players would hold serve the rest of the way as huge shot making from the baseline took over. In the tiebreak, Nadal earned a mini-break to go up 3-1 and never looked back, winning it 7-5. The opening set lasted one hour and eight minutes.
In the opening set, the Mallorcan won 17 of 28 points on his first serve, saved 50 percent of break points he faced and smashed three aces compared to one double fault. Meanwhile, Verdasco won 64 percent of first serve points to go along with making 76 percent of his serves.
The Madrid native, who is known as a very aggressive baseliner like his counterpart, didn’t falter early in the second set which he has been known to do in past matches after losing the opening set. Verdasco held serve at love and eventually broke the 10-time Grand Slam champions serve in the eighth game to take a 5-4 lead. But, he was quickly broken back by Nadal due to several unforced errors. The second set headed to another tiebreak. The 27-year-old Verdasco, who is a five-time singles winner on the ATP World Tour, secured the mini-break at 4-3 and lost just one more point, winning the tiebreak, 7-4. The second set also lasted one hour and eight minutes.
The second set showcased many impressive rallies including several huge forehand winners by Verdasco, as well as a handful of perfectly hit angles by the former world No. 1. Although there were times that Verdasco looked as though he could crumble at anytime due to many loud outbursts and heaps of complaining to his player box, he seemed to re-group right away and was able to win 18 of 26 points on his first serve, 7 of 10 on his second serve and win 46 percent of points on Nadal’s second serve. Nadal, on the other hand, dropped only 10 points on his first serve, but struggled on his usually steady return game, winning only 8 of 26 first serve return points and 3 of 10 second serve return points.
The final set didn’t disappoint, as it also headed to a tiebreak after players exchanged service breaks in the fifth and sixth games, treating fans to even higher caliber tennis. Nadal built a 5-1 lead in the tiebreak as the match began to slip away from Verdasco. However, the heavy hitting world No. 21 held his nerve to reel off enough points to level the tiebreak. Nadal, a winner of 19 ATP World Tour Masters 1000 titles was uncharacteristically sloppy with his play on his first four match points but secured the victory on his fifth match point to a rousing applause.
In the final set, which lasted one hour and 21 minutes, Verdasco placed a remarkable 85 percent of his first serves in the court, including three aces, but won just two points on his second serve. He was also only able to win 14 of 42 return points. The triumphant Nadal won 22 of 30 first serve points, lost only six second serve points and hit one ace.
Overall, Nadal wasn’t as close to perfect on the stat sheet as customary, committing 41 unforced errors and only hitting 24 winners, but securing a win is more important than what lies on the stat sheet.. Verdasco, a former two-time US Open quarterfinalist, smashed 47 winners and 59 unforced errors.
The win marks just the fifth time in Nadal’s 635 career matches played that he needed three tiebreaks’ to secure a victory. It also marks the fifth time he has reached at least the quarterfinals in Cincinnati.
Next up for Nadal is a meeting with in-form World No. 7 Mardy Fish, who took out Frenchmen Richard Gasquet, the No. 12 seed, 7-5, 7-5. Fish, who secured the Olympus US Open Series Bonus Challenge with his victory today and is a two-time Cincinnati finalist, has never beaten the 25-year-old in six career meetings.
“If you want to play someone like Rafa, you hope that he plays a match that’s four hours long before you played him,” jokes Fish. “That’s as physical as it gets. It’s hot out there, so I’m sure he’ll be pretty tired. He’s a human being. It’s a great opportunity for me. I’ve never beaten him before. This is probably a surface that I would choose to play him on if I were to pick. Something hot, something quick.”
With seven of the top eight seeds advancing to the quarterfinals including No. 1 Novak Djokovic, No. 3 Roger Federer, No. 4 Andy Murray, No. 6 Gael Monfils and No. 8 Tomas Berdych, it marks just the fourth time in the Open Era (10th time overall) and first time since 1999 that this feat has occurred. It also marks the 12th time in the Open Era that all eight quarterfinalists are seeded players, and the first time since 1996.
In the WTA Tour event also going on this week at the Lindner Family Tennis Center, No. 5 seed and defending French Open champion Li Na, reigning Wimbledon champion and No. 6 seed Petra Kvitova and No. 8 seed Marion Bartoli of France were all bounced from the tournament.
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