2010 Shanghai Rolex Masters 1000: Melzer annihilates Nadal in round three
Presently ranked no. 1 in the World and seeded no. 1 at the 2010 Shanghai Rolex Masters 1000, Spain's Rafael Nadal proved incapable of making it past the third round, losing to Austria's Jurgen Melzer.
Melzer instantly exercised his authority on the game, taking the first set 6-1. Nadal however, came back with a 6-3 win in the second. Dismally for Rafa, his reign ended just as the Austrian went on to take the deciding third set,
6-3.
Seeded no. 13, Jurgen will be opposed by Argentina's Juan Monaco in the quarter-finals of the tournament. Monaco eliminated Germany's Mischa Zverev, defeating him 6-0 and 6-2 to make it through to the quarters.
Upon receiving a bye into the second round, Nadal was faced by Switzerland's Stanislas Wawrinka. The Spaniard got through with Wawrinka, defeating him 6-4 and 6-4 to play Melzer in the third round. Wawrinka defeated Frenchman Gilles
Simon 6-4 in the first set and 6-1 in the following set, to advance to the second round of the tournament.
Along the side of which, Jurgen was faced by Spain's Daniel Gimeno-Traver in the second round of his draw. Melzer's 6-3 win in the first, along with his 7-6 win in the second, marked a straight set victory for the Austrian. Traver brought a close to a three
set tussle in the first round, defeating Uzbekistan's Daniel Istomin 3-6, 6-3 and 6-3, to play Melzer in the second.
In the year 2009, Nadal battled it out against compatriot, Tommy Robredo in the third round of the Shanghai Rolex Masters 1000, having previously defeated America's James Blake in the second. Seeded no. 14 at the tournament, Robredo was beaten 6-1 and 6-4 by
his fellow country-man.
The no. 1 seed proceeded to face Croatia's Ivan Ljubicic in the quarter-finals of his draw. After going nip and tuck in the first two sets, Ljubicic and Nadal, each had a set to their names. The Spaniard was nevertheless, put through
to the semi-finals, as Ivan retracted from the tournament, due to an injury right before playing the third set of the match.
In an all Spanish tussle, Rafa was opposed by companion, Feliciano Lopez in the semi-finals of the tournament. Rafa took the first set 6-1 and was on his way to winning the second, 3 games up, just before Lopez pulled out of the match due to an injury.
Furthermore, Nadal went head-to-head with Russia's Nikolay Davydenko in the championship final. Unfortunately for the Spaniard, Davydenko thrashed Rafa 7-6 and 6-3, two sets in a row, to clinch the championship title.
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