Rafael Nadal outshines Philipp Kohlschreiber in the third round brawl – Monte Carlo Masters 2013
Former world number one, Rafael Nadal, sustained his dominance over the clay courts of Monte Carlo be defeating the German tennis ace, Philipp Kohlschreiber, in the third round brawl on Thursday. The third seeded Spaniard took
one hour and 20 minutes to wrap up the contest in straight sets, 6-2, 6-4, to reach the quarter-finals of the Monte Carlo Rolex Masters.
The eighth times winner and the defending champion, Nadal, proved his invincibility over the red dirt once again. He was absolutely unstoppable against the 16th seeded German, overwhelming him in all segments of the
game. The King of Clay has already defeated Kohlschreiber eighth times in the previous battles. The German won their last encounter at Halle, Germany, last year and it was the payback time for Nadal on Thursday. The defending champion now leads 9-1 in the
all-time head-to-head series against the world number 21.
Nadal has been doing exceptionally well after his return to the professional circuit. He has already won three ATP titles this season and aims at winning Monte Carlo Masters title for the record ninth time. He was delighted to
reach the quarter-finals without facing any real challenge from any competitor and hopes his performance will be even better in the big matches to come.
“I feel more relaxed,” he said. “I had some uneasy moments during the past year. Now I'm back on the tour. Just being here is good news. And winning matches, I say every day, but winning every match is very important to me today.
Every time I have the chance to go on court and play well, feel competitive, is a really good feeling.”
Nadal delivered just 57 per cent of his first serve on target but incredibly won 23 out of 26 points on it. He crafted seven break points in the match but only three conversions proved sufficient to conclude his victory. On the
other hand, Kohlschreiber utterly failed to create a single break opportunity in the entire contest and eventually finished on the losing side.
The defending champion will face the unseeded Grigor Dimitrov in the quarter-final on Friday.
Tags: