Rafael Nadal loses in Shanghai but Roger Federer progresses
World No.1 Rafael Nadal suffered a shock 1-6, 6-3, 3-6 defeat to Jürgen Melzer at the Shanghai Masters, while Roger Federer sailed through against Andreas Seppi in straight sets.
Nadal, the current US Open, Wimbledon and French Open champion, was unable to overcome the challenge of Melzer, who recorded the biggest win of his career.
The Austrian had never taken a set off Nadal in his previous meetings, and was delighted to have beaten the Spaniard. “I think the key was to put a lot of pressure on him,” he said. “So I tried to take the ball early. I was serving really well, especially on big moments. I executed my game plan, which was putting a lot of pressure, especially on his forehand.”
Nadal managed to save three match points in the final set to make the score 3-5 and had hoped Melzer would get nervous in closing out the game, but he didn’t, and Melzer was able to clinch the match.
“To be honest, I learned from the last matches. The first one at the Olympics was a blowout. Then I think I played a very good match [at Roland Garros] against him. Although I lost in three sets, I was very close in winning one. Clay is his best surface. I'm very happy,” said Melzer.
Nadal admitted he wasn’t at his best today. “I felt slow on court,” said the 24-year old. “I had more mistakes than usual. I played shorter than usual. [I was] a little bit more tired than usual, just physically and mentally. [I] just [want to] congratulate him. It's true, he played very aggressive, but [it] wasn't very difficult [to] play that aggressive against me today.”
Federer didn’t suffer any problems at all as he ran out a comfortable 6-3, 6-4 winner over Italian Seppi. Federer now becomes the favourite to become the winner of the Shanghai Masters following the exit of Nadal, and will now play Robin Söderling in the quarter-finals after he beat David Ferrer of Spain 7-5, 6-4.
Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic also progressed earlier in the day. http://www.senore.com/Andy-Murray-into-quarter-finals-of-Shanghai-Masters-a33880
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