Rafael Nadal Advances at the Roger’s Cup
Rafael Nadal survived an early scare at the Roger’s Cup in Toronto defeating Swiss challenger Stanislas Wawrinka with a 7-6 (12), 6-3 win on centre court at Rexall Centre on Wednesday night.
"My goal was to win," Nadal said. "When you come back after (some) time without playing, tournaments are always difficult. I just tried my best and tried to find my rhythm."
Nadal arrived in Toronto describing his season as "more than a dream," having won both the French Open and Wimbledon titles among five tournament victories on the ATP World Tour.
The No. 1 ranked player in the world, Nadal had also expressed that his physical fitness was fine and had no worries about knee troubles that had bothered him last year.
Wawrinka, who is currently ranked No. 24 in the world, certainly put up a great fight going toe-to-toe with Nadal in a tough first set. On Tuesday night, Wawrinka had defeated Canadian Frank Dancevic in straight sets on centre court and it appeared on Wednesday night that he did not want to leave.
The 25-year-old from Switzerland was able to fend off whatever Nadal was able to come up with deep into the first set tiebreak. Nadal had a chance to put the first set away at 10-9 but placed his return into the net as Wawrinka tumbled to the ground. Eventually, Nadal was finally able to end the first set tiebreak 14-12 while on serve.
"There's a lot of pressure on every point," Nadal said. "But if you win, it gives you a lot of confidence."
The first set alone took 92 minutes to complete and the tiebreak matched the longest of Nadal’s career. The previous mark was also set at the Canadian event in a quarter-final match two years ago.
Nadal was able to dictate terms in the second set after an early break. With Nadal up 2-1, Wawrinka, who was looking sluggish following the lengthy first set dropped serve to fall behind 3-1. Nadal was able to step into cruise control after that and won the second set 6-3 to close out the match.
"I had difficult moments, I had moments where I played well," Nadal said. "I did a little bit of everything, and that's very positive."
Nadal will now face South Africa's Kevin Anderson on centre court Thursday.
Nadal is seeking his third Canadian title. In 2005 he defeated Andre Agassi in three sets in Montreal, which also marked Nadal’s first career title on hard courts. In 2008, he defeated Nicolas Kiefer in Toronto.
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