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Nadal books quarter-final berth after startling game

Spanish player Rafael Nadal returns the ball to Igor Andreev of Russia during their ATP Dubai Open tennis match on Wednesday. PHOTO: AFP

Triple Grand Slam titleholder Roger Federer and French Open champion Rafael Nadal came closer to their first meeting in more than three months on Wednesday when each reached the quarter-finals of the Dubai Open.

But while top seed Federer cruised through impressively 7-5, 6-3 against Italian Daniele Bracciali, titleholder Nadal needed all his fight as well as a little luck to survive 6-2, 3-6, 7-6 (7/2) against Russian Igor Andreev.

This was a startling match in which Nadal was given a time warning for toweling too long, a spectator collapsed when he was serving at 4-4 in the final set, delaying the match for five minutes, and twice when a line judge called the ball out giving Nadal match point, Andreev made successful Hawkeye challenges to get the rally replayed.

Had Nadal been able to capitalize when he got Andreev at love 40 on the Russian's serve at 3-3 in the second set, much may have been different.

Instead Nadal served a double fault at 30-40 in the next game to go 3-5 down and land himself in all sorts of trouble, which worsened when he went a break down at the start of the final set.

"I was a little bit unfocused in the second set. After losing the second set, I asked if I needed to win. When they said `yes,' that refocused me."

Fernando Verdasco

Eventually his defensive containing got him through -- even though he tried to take the offensive to his opponent more than usual.

Federer's progress also contained remarkable moments, including an 11-deuce fourth game in the second set which lasted almost 20 minutes before Bracciali held serve, and a between-the-legs shot from Federer from well behind the baseline which hurtled for a winning pass.

It was such a stunning blow that Bracciali jokingly went down on one knee in front of Federer as the world No. 1 walked to his chair at the end of the game, and when video camera focused on him, Federer, not normally especially triumphalist, could not help chuckling at what he had done as the crowd cheered.

"I did like it," he admitted. "It was a shot which I have not hit for a long time, and the last time I did it for a winner was in the Davis Cup against Sjeng Schalken (February 2003).

"It was definitely one of my best shots," Federer agreed. "It was from such a long way back. You do it a lot in practice, but not very often in matches, and the last time I tried it was against Marat Safin on match point in Australia [in January 2005] and I missed, so I didn't think I'd do that again."

Federer next plays Novak Djokovic whom he beat in straight sets in the Australian Open.

Nadal may be relieved to find himself next playing Mikhail Youzhny and not Tomas Berdych, the sixth-seeded Czech, who has beaten Nadal in all their three meetings on hard courts -- although the Russian also beat Nadal on this surface, in the US Open in September.

Youzhny came through 7-6 (8/6), 6-3 winner against Berdych.

Earlier Nikolay Davydenko, the third-seeded Russian who had struggled to get past Younes El Ayanoui, the wild card from Morocco, the day before, was beaten 4-6, 6-2, 6-4 by Olivier Rochus, the world No. 34 from Belgium.

Verdasco advances

Fernando Verdasco advanced to the quarter-finals of the Tennis Channel Open on Wednesday, beating Thailand's Danai Udomchoke 6-1, 5-7, 6-2 in round-robin play.

The fifth-seeded Verdasco had four double faults while losing the second set, and then took advantage of Udomchoke's four double faults in the third.

Verdasco also defeated Paul-Henri Mathieu of France in three sets on Monday, finishing 2-0 in his round-robin group.

"I was a little bit unfocused in the second set," Verdasco said. "After losing the second set, I asked if I needed to win. When they said `yes,' that refocused me."

In the night session, Sweden's Thomas Johansson needed only 46 minutes to beat Taiwan's Lu Yen-hsun (盧彥勳) 6-0, 6-1.

Lu, who lost in the tournament's main event draw phase, replaced Vince Spadea in round-robin action after Spadea withdrew earlier yesterday with an injured left ankle.

Johansson was to meet Lleyton Hewitt yesterday, with the winner advancing to today's quarter-finals.

Johansson, ranked No. 90 in the world, had nine aces, including seven in the second set. He won 57 of the match's 84 points.

Henin beats Molik

Top seed Justine Henin advanced to the quarter-finals of the US$1.34 million WTA Qatar Open on Wednesday with a 6-2, 7-6 (11/9) win over feisty Australian Alicia Molik.

The second seed, Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia, also moved into the last eight stage of the event, beating Germany's Julia Goerges 7-5, 6-1, while Swiss Patty Schnyder ousted Spain's Anabel Medina Garrigues 6-3, 6-4.

Henin, bidding for back-to-back titles in the Gulf after her win in Dubai last week, overcame a period of uncertainty in the second set to beat Molik for the fifth consecutive time.

In five head-to-head meetings Molik has taken just one set from Henin, at Miami in 2005.

On Wednesday the Australian held two set points in the second set tie-break but failed to capitalize.

Henin, the World No. 2, clawed her way back pulling level at 8-8 and then again at 9-9 before securing the win.

Molik made crucial errors on her serve when she put the ball into the net to give the Belgian a 10-9 advantage and Henin exploited a weak approach for a passing shot to win the match and set up a quarter-final clash with Schnyder.

Swiss ace Martina Hingis had an easy outing in the second round, beating good friend and doubles partner Maria Kirilenko of Russia 6-2, 6-2.

Hingis, the third seed in Qatar, was happy with her game but said she felt a bit uneasy playing the Russian with whom she has entered the doubles event here.
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