INDIAN WELLS: Rafael Nadal saved five match points en route to a 3-6, 7-6 (7/5), 6-0 victory over David Nalbandian on Wednesday to reach the quarter- finals of the Indian Wells hard court tennis tournament.
Nalbandian's crushing forehand had the world number one on the ropes, but the Spaniard withstood the onslaught. He saved five match points, producing winners on four of them, to take the second set to the tie-breaker.
Nadal quickly gained the upper hand in the tie-break, as Nalbandian netted a volley, double-faulted and then netted another volley.
Once Nadal had pocketed the set, Nalbandian faded rapidly and Nadal wrapped up the victory in two hours and 48 minutes - almost on the stroke of 2am.
Nadal next faces another Argentinian, sixth-seeded Juan Martin del Potro, a 7-6 (7/4), 7-6 (7/3) winner over American John Isner.
Nadal's escape, against an opponent who had beaten him in two previous encounters back in 2007, meant that the "big four" of the men's tennis circuit - Nadal, Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray - all made it into the quarter-finals of the first Masters series event of the year.
World No.2 Federer, playing his first tournament since falling in five sets to Nadal in the Australian Open final, got past Chilean Fernando Gonzalez 6-3, 5-7, 6-2.
He'll face fourth-seeded Murray, who had an unexpectedly easy time as Tommy Robredo retired with an injured right wrist with Murray leading 6-2, 3-0.
Djokovic, the defending champion and third seed, survived some shaky moments to pull off a 7-6 (9/7), 7-6 (8/6) victory over Switzerland's Stanislas Wawrinka.
He booked a quarter-final clash with seventh-seeded American Andy Roddick, who beat tenacious Spaniard David Ferrer 7-6 (7/5), 3-6, 6-3.
Djokovic and Roddick will be renewing a rivalry that saw them meet in the quarter-finals of the last two Grand Slams.
Former world number one Federer, who has spent the time since the Australian Open recovering from a lingering back ailment and getting in some quality practice, said he enjoyed his tussle with Gonzalez, the 2007 Australian Open runner-up.
"I enjoy playing Fernando because it's so tactical, but then at the same time it's so brutal, so aggressive. You think you have a slight chance to win the point, and then you realize no, there's actually none."
Nevertheless, Federer stretched his record over Gonzalez to 12-1, and lined up a quarter-final clash that promised another test of his ground game against Spain's Fernando Verdasco.
Verdasco, who powered to the semi-finals of the Australian Open where he was felled by Nadal, defeated unseeded German Philipp Kohlschreiber 6-4, 3-6, 6-1.
Like Federer, Scotland's Murray arrived in California after some time off, having withdrawn after reaching the quarter-finals in Dubai two weeks ago and then skipping the Davis Cup because of a virus.
Murray had lost to Robredo in their last two encounters and got off to a slow start, dropping his serve to trail 1-2.
"Because I haven't played that much, I'm sort of trying to work my way into the match by making a lot of balls early on," Murray said. "Tommy was able to dictate a lot of points. That wasn't through my errors. He had a couple of big returns and got ahead of me. After that I started to play a little bit more aggressive."
Murray said he knew Robredo was battling a wrist injury, but said it was hard to gauge how much his opponent was bothered by it.
"Mentally a wrist problem can be tough. It's not so much hitting the ball that's worrying, it's just the pain that's there and feeling like something might happen," he said.
Murray next faces Croatian Ivan Ljubicic, who saved five match points to beat Russian Igor Andreev 4-6, 7-6 (7/5), 7-6 (7/4) in a match lasting more than three hours.
In women's matches, Eighth-seeded Victoria Azarenka of Belarus shocked top-seeded Russian Dinara Safina 6-7 (4/7), 6-1, 6-3 to reach the semi-finals.
Azarenka denied Safina's bid to topple American Serena Williams from the world number one rankings, which the Russian would have done had she reached the final here.
In the semi-finals Azarenka will face her doubles partner, fourth-seeded Russian Vera Zvonareva, who beat ninth-seeded Dane Caroline Wozniacki 6-4, 6-2.
Source:http://sports.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Nadal-reaches-Indian-Wells-quarter-finals/articleshow/4286589.cms
Nalbandian's crushing forehand had the world number one on the ropes, but the Spaniard withstood the onslaught. He saved five match points, producing winners on four of them, to take the second set to the tie-breaker.
Nadal quickly gained the upper hand in the tie-break, as Nalbandian netted a volley, double-faulted and then netted another volley.
Once Nadal had pocketed the set, Nalbandian faded rapidly and Nadal wrapped up the victory in two hours and 48 minutes - almost on the stroke of 2am.
Nadal next faces another Argentinian, sixth-seeded Juan Martin del Potro, a 7-6 (7/4), 7-6 (7/3) winner over American John Isner.
Nadal's escape, against an opponent who had beaten him in two previous encounters back in 2007, meant that the "big four" of the men's tennis circuit - Nadal, Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray - all made it into the quarter-finals of the first Masters series event of the year.
World No.2 Federer, playing his first tournament since falling in five sets to Nadal in the Australian Open final, got past Chilean Fernando Gonzalez 6-3, 5-7, 6-2.
He'll face fourth-seeded Murray, who had an unexpectedly easy time as Tommy Robredo retired with an injured right wrist with Murray leading 6-2, 3-0.
Djokovic, the defending champion and third seed, survived some shaky moments to pull off a 7-6 (9/7), 7-6 (8/6) victory over Switzerland's Stanislas Wawrinka.
He booked a quarter-final clash with seventh-seeded American Andy Roddick, who beat tenacious Spaniard David Ferrer 7-6 (7/5), 3-6, 6-3.
Djokovic and Roddick will be renewing a rivalry that saw them meet in the quarter-finals of the last two Grand Slams.
Former world number one Federer, who has spent the time since the Australian Open recovering from a lingering back ailment and getting in some quality practice, said he enjoyed his tussle with Gonzalez, the 2007 Australian Open runner-up.
"I enjoy playing Fernando because it's so tactical, but then at the same time it's so brutal, so aggressive. You think you have a slight chance to win the point, and then you realize no, there's actually none."
Nevertheless, Federer stretched his record over Gonzalez to 12-1, and lined up a quarter-final clash that promised another test of his ground game against Spain's Fernando Verdasco.
Verdasco, who powered to the semi-finals of the Australian Open where he was felled by Nadal, defeated unseeded German Philipp Kohlschreiber 6-4, 3-6, 6-1.
Like Federer, Scotland's Murray arrived in California after some time off, having withdrawn after reaching the quarter-finals in Dubai two weeks ago and then skipping the Davis Cup because of a virus.
Murray had lost to Robredo in their last two encounters and got off to a slow start, dropping his serve to trail 1-2.
"Because I haven't played that much, I'm sort of trying to work my way into the match by making a lot of balls early on," Murray said. "Tommy was able to dictate a lot of points. That wasn't through my errors. He had a couple of big returns and got ahead of me. After that I started to play a little bit more aggressive."
Murray said he knew Robredo was battling a wrist injury, but said it was hard to gauge how much his opponent was bothered by it.
"Mentally a wrist problem can be tough. It's not so much hitting the ball that's worrying, it's just the pain that's there and feeling like something might happen," he said.
Murray next faces Croatian Ivan Ljubicic, who saved five match points to beat Russian Igor Andreev 4-6, 7-6 (7/5), 7-6 (7/4) in a match lasting more than three hours.
In women's matches, Eighth-seeded Victoria Azarenka of Belarus shocked top-seeded Russian Dinara Safina 6-7 (4/7), 6-1, 6-3 to reach the semi-finals.
Azarenka denied Safina's bid to topple American Serena Williams from the world number one rankings, which the Russian would have done had she reached the final here.
In the semi-finals Azarenka will face her doubles partner, fourth-seeded Russian Vera Zvonareva, who beat ninth-seeded Dane Caroline Wozniacki 6-4, 6-2.
Source:http://sports.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Nadal-reaches-Indian-Wells-quarter-finals/articleshow/4286589.cms
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