Spanish top seed Rafael Nadal overcame stubborn second-set resistance from compatriot Tommy Robredo to reach the Shanghai Masters quarter-finals 6-1, 6-4 yesterday.
Second seed Novak Djokovic again looked impressive as he continued his imperious form in China with a 6-4, 6-2 thrashing of German qualifier Rainer Schuettler.
The debate about the draining effects of the long men’s season continued, with Stanislas Wawrinka and Gael Monfils becoming the sixth and seventh players to retire injured from the US$3.24 million tournament.
World No. 2 Nadal, still not back at his best after an injury-disrupted second half of the season, cantered through the first set, but lost his serve at the start of the second.
The 23-year-old Australian Open champion is nothing if not a fighter, however, and he battled back into the set in a marathon third game, before breaking again for a 5-4 lead and serving out for victory.
Djokovic, who will move up to No. 3 in the world, proved in winning the season-ending Masters Cup last year that he has the legs to outlast his rivals.
The Serbian won the China Open title last weekend and his victory over Schuettler, which set up a tie against Gilles Simon, was his ninth in a row on Chinese soil.
“It was comfortable,” the 22-year-old said. “I didn’t play the last couple of games of the first set that well, but the important thing is that I played as much as I needed to win.”
Sixth seed Nikolay Davydenko defused Fernando Gonzalez’s serve with his mobility along the baseline to grab a sixth win in six meetings against the Chilean 6-3, 7-5.
Simon, seeded eighth, was the only one of three Frenchmen to get through the third round after he notched up a 6-3, 6-4 win over Czech Tomas Berdych.
Robin Soderling upset error-prone French fifth seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 6-3, 6-3 in their encounter under the open roof of the Qizhong Central Arena.
Soderling is among a handful of players still in with a chance of claiming one of three remaining spots up for grabs at the season-ending World Tour Finals in London next month.
Swiss Wawrinka was losing 3-6, 7-6, 4-2 to Czech Radek Stepanek when abdominal pains caused him to withdraw, while French 11th seed Monfils was down 6-2, 3-0 to Ivan Ljubicic when he quit because of a back injury. Ljubicic faces Nadal next.
■GENERALI LADIES
AFP AND AP, LINZ, AUSTRIA
Agnieszka Radwanska overcame jet lag to defeat Romania’s Monica Niculescu 6-4, 6-2 and reach the second round of the Generali Ladies on Wednesday.
The second-seeded Pole will next play struggling Frenchwoman Alize Cornet, who battled her way to a 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 victory against Germany’s Kristina Barrois.
Radwanska, who reached the final of the China Open in Beijing before losing to Svetlana Kuznetsova on Sunday, showed the effects of her tough schedule as she failed to dominate her persistent opponent. Only three games went with serve in a ragged first set, before Radwanska closed it out with a forehand volley.
The opening two games of the second set also went against serve and Radwanska had to fight off two break points to hold for 2-1, but she then earned the decisive lead at 3-2, breaking with a fine backhand drive down the line. A further break at 5-2 sealed her victory.
Cornet has struggled after a fine season last year, with half of her 18 wins this year coming before the end of February and taking her to a career-high of 11th in the world. Then her form collapsed alarmingly and, although she reached the semi-finals at a small event in Austria in July, she claimed just six wins in 17 tournaments.
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