Rafael Nadal returned to action on Thursday for the first time since his shock first-round exit from the Australian Open with a straight-sets win over Juan Monaco in the ATP Argentina Open.
Defending Buenos Aires champion Nadal was not his sharpest self in the rematch of last year’s final.
He dropped his serve three times, but broke Monaco in the final game of each set to emerge with a 6-4, 6-4 victory in 1 hour, 38 minutes.
Photo: AP
He set up a quarter-final clash with Italy’s Paolo Lorenzi, a 4-6, 6-3, 6-1 winner over Diego Schwartzman.
Monaco had not played a tournament since having right-wrist surgery in August last year.
However, Nadal was not able to build much momentum against him.
Monaco earned the first break of the second set en route to a 3-1 lead, and after breaking back for 3-3, Nadal was in trouble again with two double faults to trail 15-30 in the ninth game.
He held on, sealing the game with a trademark forehand winner down the line to force Monaco to serve to extend the match.
The Buenos Aires clay has proved fertile ground for Nadal in the past, and the 29-year-old world No. 5, owner of 14 Grand Slam titles, admitted when he sought a wild card for the tournament that he hoped he would be able to get this year’s campaign on track.
The year started for Nadal with a 6-1, 6-2 thrashing by Novak Djokovic in the final at Doha, which was followed by his 7-6 (8/6), 4-6, 3-6, 7-6 (7/4), 6-2 loss to fellow Spaniard Fernando Verdasco in the first round in Melbourne — just the second first-round exit from a Grand Slam in his career.
ABM AMRO WORLD
AFP, ROTTERDAM, Netherlands
Alexander Zverev battled for three hours on Thursday to defeat third-seeded Frenchman Gilles Simon 7-5, 3-6, 7-6 (7/4) and make the ABM AMRO World Tennis Tournament quarter-finals.
The 18-year-old German, who also reached the quarter-finals in Montpellier last week, trailed in the third set and took it into a tiebreaker where he finally prevailed over Simon, a three-time semi-finalist in the Dutch city.
“The crowd helped me so much,” Zverev said. “I really had to give it all I’ve got. When I was cramping, my team was worried, but I fought hard and stayed in there. Gilles can run all day long so it was tough for me physically.”
World No. 70 Zverev, who can become the youngest player in the top 100 should he win the title tomorrow, was to face France’s Gael Monfils yesterday for a semi-final spot.
Sixth seed Roberto Bautista Agut reached his second straight quarter-final and third of the season with a 4-6, 6-2, 6-4 defeat of Jiri Vesely.
The Spaniard, who won the Sofia title on Sunday after also triumphing in Auckland last month, claimed his sixth consecutive victory.
Bautista Agut, the world No. 17, next plays Slovak Martin Klizan, who defeated Cypriot crowd-pleaser Marcos Baghdatis 6-3, 6-2. Klizan hammered 22 winners and broke five times.
French qualifier Nicolas Mahut defeated compatriot Jeremy Chardy 7-5, 6-2 to advance.
The 34-year-old, who has played four matches this week at the Ahoy Stadium, will be competing in his second quarter-final of the season after advancing into the top eight last month in Sydney, where he lost to Serb Viktor Troicki.
A repeat of that match was to be played yesterday after eighth seed Troicki put out South Korea’s Chung Hyeon 7-6 (7/5), 6-2.
MEMPHIS OPEN
AP, MEMPHIS, Tennessee
American teenager Taylor Fritz won the biggest match of his career on Thursday night, beating second-seeded Steve Johnson 7-6 (7/5), 7-6 (9/7) in the second round of the Memphis Open.
The 18-year-old Fritz, the US Open junior winner last year, advanced to the quarter-finals yesterday against Germany’s Benjamin Becker, a 6-2, 7-6 (8/6) winner over seventh-seeded John Millman of Australia.
Third-seeded Donald Young was the only seeded player to survive on Thursday, topping Marcel Granollers 6-1, 7-6 (7/2). Ricardes Berankis of Lithuania ousted No. 8 seed Damir Dzumhur of Boznia and Herzegovina 6-3, 6-4.
The victory moved Fritz into his first quarter-final on the ATP Tour, becoming the first American 18-year-old to reach the quarters of a tour event since Denis Kudla at Newport in 2011.
“It feels amazing,” Fritz said.
“I played a really great match, and I’m so happy to get the chance,” he added.
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