Thursday, April 30, 2009

Nadal breezes into third round of Rome Masters

ROME: World number one Rafael Nadal coasted into the third round of the Rome clay court Masters on Wednesday after breezing past home favourite Andreas Seppi 6-2, 6-3.

The Spanish top seed spent just 1hr 19min on court as he continued his unbeaten run on clay this season.

The victory over his world number 37 ranked opponent went some way to erasing memories from last year when Nadal fell at this stage as he lost 7-5, 6-1 to countryman and former world number one Juan Carlos Ferrero, although he was carrying a foot injury at the time.

That was his only defeat on clay last season, his only defeat in this tournament - which he won from 2005-07 - and one of only two defeats on clay in the last four seasons. The other was to Roger Federer in the Hamburg final in 2007.

He has lost only four times on clay over the last five seasons compiling an incredible 143-4 record with 23 titles on the surface during that period.

He was barely troubled in the first set and while Seppi hung in doggedly in the second, Nadal needed only a single break to seal it.

He got that courtesy of a delicate drop shot on break point in the eighth game and he followed that up at the start of the final game with a sublime backhand cross-court pass on the run and stretch after a Seppi drop shot that had looked good enough to win the point.

Thereafter Nadal easily served out the match.

He now has a 34-3 record for the season including 12-0 on clay and a 26 match unbeaten run on the dirt since that Ferrero encounter here last year.

He is looking for his fifth title of the year and third in Masters Series events. He currently sits joint second in the list of Masters tournament winners with Federer on 14, three behind Andre Agassi.

Source:TOI

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