NADAL FACES WAWRINKA

Rafael Nadal has defeated Kei Nishikori of Japan in the fourth round of the ongoing French Open. Nadal won the match in the straight sets by 6-4, 6-1, 6-3.

It was a display of quality tennis by the Spanish no. 1. He just outfoxed Nishikori with his class.

With this victory, Nadal has secured a place in the final 8 of the competition.

In the post match interview, Nadal said, “To be honest, I hadn’t played at my best in the last three games. Especially, I was struggling with my forehand shots. But, today, I think everything went perfectly fine.”

There were no breakthroughs in the first 4 games of the opening set and the scores were levelled at 2-2 when the 4^th game ended. A breakthrough in the 5^th game gave Nadal a lead of 3-2. The Spaniard then increased his lead by holding his serve in the next game.

Nadal didn’t lose his lead after that and bagged his next couple of service games to seal the opener by 6-4.

In the second set, Nadal was in his zone. He showed why he is the best on clay courts. He broke the serve of the Japanese player three times on the trot and grabbed the set by 6-1.

Nadal’s intensity remained the same in the proceeding set as well. With a break of serve in the 4^th game, he got ahead by 3-1.

Nishikori needed to break Nadal’s serve at least once to bounce back from that position, but, the Spaniard didn’t let him do that. He held his remaining serves and wrapped up the match.

In the quarter final round, Nadal will face the Swiss player Stanislas Wawrinka who made his way into the final 8 by defeating Richard Gasquet.

C.Ronaldo vs Rafael Nadal Tennis

Nadal Video Score: 5 / 5

2009 Tennis Match of the Year: Highlights

Nadal Video clip Score: four / 5

NADAL WINS

Rafael Nadal has defeated Philipp Kohlschreiber of Germany in the third round of the Monte Carlo Masters. Nadal won the match in straight sets by 6-2, 6-4. It took the Spanish superstar just 80 minutes to finish off this encounter.

Nadal who has already won this competition 8 times in the past is looking good for another title here. He looked at his peak against Kohlschreiber.

Both these players had played 9 matches against each other before this match and Nadal had won 8 out of them. However, in their previous meeting in the quarter final of the Gerry Weber Open last year, Kohlschreiber had defeated Nadal in straight sets. So, Nadal was looking for the revenge and he got that.

In the opening set, Nadal got a breakthrough in the 3^rd game and then, by serving out the next game, he took a lead of 3-1. In the next two games, there were no breakthroughs and at the end of the 6^th game, Nadal was leading by 4-2.

Kohlschreiber dropped his serve again in the 7^th game and a serve hold by Nadal in the next game won him the set.

In the second set, both the players held their serve in the first 6 games and the scores were levelled at 3-3 when the 6^th game got finished.

Nadal broke Kohlschreiber’s serve in the 7^th game and got ahead by 4-3. The next couple of games went with the serve and Nadal was ahead by 5-4 when the 10^th game began.

To come out victorious in the match, Nadal just required a serve hold in the 10^th game and he didn’t have to work hard for that. He served it out by playing some crisp shots and moved into the quarter finals.

In the quarter final round, Nadal will take on Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria.

Rafael Nadal – 2010/2011 Highlights |HD|

Nadal Video clip Rating: 4 / 5

FERRER TAKES ON NISHIKORI

Rafael Nadal’s countryman, David Ferrer, will take on Kei Nishikori of Japan in the fourth round of the ongoing Sony Open on Tuesday. Ferrer has so far played just a single match in this tournament.

In the first round, Ferrer got a bye. In the second round, he got a walkover because his opponent Dmitry Tursunov was suffering from Stomach problem. So, he began his campaign by facing the Italian player Fabio Fognini in the third round. Ferrer dominated in that match as expected and won in straight sets by 6-1, 7-5.

This season has been quite good for Ferrer thus far. He began the season by defending his Heineken Open title. He won that tournament by beating Olivier Rochus of Belgium in the final by 6-3, 6-4. Then, he managed to make his way into the final 4 of the Australian Open.

Ferrer then won his second title in the season i.e. ATP Copa Claro. He competed against the Swiss no. 2 Stanislas Wawrinka in the final there and defeated him in three sets by 6-4, 3-6, 6-1.

Ferrer reached the finals of Abierto Mexicano Telcel as well, but, he was beaten by his compatriot Rafael Nadal there. Nadal defeated him in the straight sets by 6-0, 6-2.

Because of his consistent performances, Ferrer managed to overtake Rafael Nadal in the world rankings and became the no. 1 Spanish player for a while. But, his disappointing run in the BNP Paribas Open pushed him behind Nadal again.  Ferrer got defeated in the second round at Indian Wells, while, Nadal won the title there.

Currently, Ferrer is at no. 5 in the world rankings.

Ferrer has played against Nishikori four times thus far and out of those 4 matches, both the players have won two apiece. The last time that these two players had faced each other was in the fourth round of the Australian Open. In that match, Ferrer had won in straight sets.