Cincinnati Masters 2010: Rafael Nadal reaches the quarterfinal round
Rafael Nadal defeated French opponent Julien Benneteau in a total of three sets on Thursday at the ATP Cincinnati Masters 2010. The final match score was 5-7, 7-6 (8/6) and 6-2. As a result of this victory, Rafael Nadal has reached the quarter-final round of the 3 million dollar ATP Cincinnati Masters.
It was Nadal’s 36th victory in his last 38 matches in spite of the fact that the Spaniard was at the brink of losing in the tie-breaker before clawing back into the match.
After his hard fought victory, Nadal said, “A clash like the one gives me a lot of courage and confidence to play even better. Although I am playing quite well over the last few months however I still need to improve my game in order to sustain my rankings”.
Nadal has made his way into the quarter-final round. He will face Marcos Baghdatis who ousted seventh seed Tomas Berdych from Czech Republic in a total of two sets with a score of 7-5 and 6-4.
While commenting on Marcos game, Rafa said, “He is a really hard opponent and it is surely going to be a tough battle”.
World number 2 Roger Federer, world number 4 Andy Murray and Serbian Novak Djokovic advanced to the next round with victories on Thursday as well.
As far as Nadal’s match was concerned, Benneteau broke him on two occasions to win the first set of the match and almost shocked the Spaniard during the 12th game of the second set before the top ranked player reached the tie-breaker.
While explaining the difficult level of the match, Rafael Nadal said, "It wasn’t a comfortable victory for sure. Benneteau played really well throughout the match. During the first set of the match, he played exceptionally well where as I made a couple of mistakes and I need to work on them for my future matches”.
Last years’ winner Roger Federer had the easiest day, advancing the final eight by walkover as the German tennis ace Philipp Kohlschreiber pulled out of the third round match due to his shoulder injury.
Federer has not yet completed a set in the ATP Cincinnati Masters tennis tournament 2010 after a first round bye and a lead of 5-2 lead when Denis Istomin, his Uzbek qualifier withdrew from the match as a result of an ankle injury on Wednesday.
Roger will now play the sixth seeded Nikolay Davydenko from Russia who toppled David Ferrer in his previous match in a total of three sets. The final match score was 4-6, 6-3, 7-5.
In another match, world number three Serbian Novak Djokovic ousted David Nalbandian in a two setter clash. The final match score was 6-1, 7-6 (9/7). As a result of this victory, Djokovic will now play Andy Roddick who surpassed the fifth seed Robin Soderling from Sweden with a final match score of 6-4, 6-7 (9/7) and 7-6 (7/5).
Andy Murray in his match against Ernests Gulbis also fought back to win in a total of three sets. The final match score was 4-6, 6-3 and 7-6 (7/4).
The 23-year-old Scott won a total of six break point chances and committed just 23 errors during his third round match of the ATP Cincinnati Masters on Thursday. The right handed Murray will face America’s Mardy Fish in his next round battle.
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