Rafael Nadal battles past Fernando Verdasco into the quarterfinal – Western & Southern Open 2011
World number 2 Rafael Nadal of Spain was stretched to limits as he needed three tie-breaks and five match points to beat world number 21, compatriot Fernando Verdasco 7-6(3), 6-7(4), 7-6(9) in the round of 16 at the Western and Southern Open in Cincinnati on Thursday. The Spaniard took three hours and 37 minutes to win the longest match of the tournament so far.
The lower ranked Spaniard was first to take lead as he broke Nadal in the opening game of the match but he failed to consolidate on it, losing his serve in the next game to equalise the score at 1-1. The 27-year-old broke again in the third game and this time he won his next service game to take a 3-1 lead. However, his lead once again did not lost for long as Nadal broke back in the sixth game to level the score at 3-3. The rest of the set went with the serve as Nadal and Verdasco held their serve in the next six games to take the score to 6-6, forcing a tie-break. Verdasco hit a number of winners to take a 5-3 lead in the tie-break but Nadal bounced back and grabbed four points in a row to win it 7-5.
Verdasco and Nadal held their serve in the first seven games of the second set to take the score to 4-3 in the former’s favour. The Spaniard broke Nadal in the eighth game to grab a 5-3 lead but, in a similar fashion to the first set, he lost his serve in the next game to take the score to 5-4. Nadal and his compatriot held their serve in the next three games, taking the set to a tie-break. Verdasco clinched four of the last five points in the tie-break to seal it 7-4.
The pair exchanged one break of serve in the third set, squaring off the score at 6-6 to take it to a tie-break. The 25-year-old raced to a 5-1 lead in the tie-break but Verdasco came back to tie the score at 5-5. Both players won their next eight service points to take the score to 9-9. Nadal claimed a mini-break to take a 10-9 lead and won his next service point to capture it 11-9
This is Verdasco’s twelfth straight loss at the hands of Nadal. He has never won a match against the former world number one. Talking to the reporters after the match, he said, "You enjoy always a good match, but when you lose in this way, of course it's not easy, because it could have been a big win. You have it so close; tennis is like that. Tennis is very tough. It's a very hard sport, not easy mentally. You need to be strong and not let these situations affect you."
The victorious Spaniard, Nadal is drawn to play world number 7 Mardy Fish of USA in the quarterfinals.
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