Rafael Nadal recorded his 31st consecutive win at his home Barcelona Open on Thursday to reach the quarter-finals at the expense of Colombian qualifier Robert Farah 6-2, 6-3. Spain’s world No. 2 improved his near-impeccable record at the event to 32-1 as he aims to lift a seventh title from his last eight appearances. His only loss came in 2003 against the country’s current Davis Cup captain Alex Corretja.
Top seed Nadal, who is now 24-3 on the season, has not broken sweat since making history on the weekend by clinching his eighth straight title in Monte Carlo, where he beat world No. 1 Novak Djokovic.
“I had a good start, but the second set was a lot more difficult,” said Nadal, after seeing off the world No. 66. “There are no easy matches out there. It was tough, but I’m into the quarters and feeling positive. Tomorrow will be even more difficult for sure.”
Photo: AFP
Nadal will next face Serbian fifth seed Janko Tipsarevic, who put out Frederico Gil of Portugal 6-2, 6-2. Tipsarevic, who has lost his two previous meetings with Nadal, knows he will be up against the world’s best on clay, but goes into the contest with a positive attitude.
“Nadal is absolutely the worst opponent anyone can have on clay,” he said. “He’s hardly lost a match here, but you have to go for the victory, aiming to just win a few games or a set is not enough. I’m playing well, I’m not too tired. I have fuel left in my tank for this match.”
Second seed Andy Murray crushed Colombia’s Santiago Giraldo in a powerful 6-1, 6-2 -display to set up a showdown with Milos Raonic. Murray, a quarter-finalist a week ago in Monte Carlo, reached the last eight again as he builds for the French Open next month. Murray and No. 25 Raonic, who put out two-time semi-finalist Nicolas Almagro 6-3, 6-3, had been due to meet in Miami last month, but the Canadian suffered an injury and handed the Scotsman a walkover third-round win. Murray has produced his best career showing in Barcelona this week after previously winning only one match at the Real Club de Tenis.
His win was his 25th of the season against five defeats; Giraldo lost his 15th match without a win against top 10 players.
“It was good, I started the match well,” Murray said. “He had played a lot of clay tennis already, so I was expecting some long rallies, but I got ahead and put pressure on him from the start. He started going for more and making some errors. I’ve never played Raonic, but he has a huge serve. I have to play a solid match. He can have some ups and downs, so if he makes errors and give me chances, I have to be ready to take them.”
Raonic, the 11th seed who has played fewer than 20 career ATP clay matches, produced an equally one-sided third-round win against Spanish sixth seed Almagro 6-3, 6-3 in just 67 minutes. Third seed David Ferrer, three times a losing finalist to Nadal, advanced over Spanish compatriot Albert Montanes 6-0, 6-2.
Spanish seventh seed Feliciano Lopez beat Finn Jarkko Nieminen 6-3, 6-1, while Japan’s Kei Nishikori defeated Spain’s Albert Ramos 7-6 (7/2), 6-3.
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but