Rafael Nadal vs Mardy Fish – Quarterfinal Preview: Western & Southern Open 2011
Former world number one, Rafael Nadal of Spain, has made it to the quarter-finals of Western and Southern Financial Group Masters, ready to take on America’s number one tennis player, Mardy Fish, for a place in the semi.
A part of the ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) Masters Series event, the contest will be staged at the outdoor hard courts at the Lindner Family Tennis Center in Mason, near Cincinnati, United States, on Friday afternoon.
Currently holding the second spot in men’s rankings, Nadal received a bye to the second round and took down the French qualifier, Julien Benneteau, to reach the third round draws. The Spaniard went through a sweating fight with
the unseeded fellow compatriot, Fernando Verdasco, to take him down in the three-set thriller, 7-6(5), 6-7(4), 7-6(9), making a berth in the quarter-final of the tournament.
Nadal has already bagged three ATP championship titles this year so far and is running a 53-9 record for the current season prior to his quarter-final matchup. The Spaniard was dethroned from the top spot in world ranking after
he lost the final of Wimbledon Championships to Novak Djokovic last month and his game has not been up to the mark since then.
Clinching the seventh berth in the world rankings this week, Fish has been one of the other consistent performers of the season. The American also got a bye to have a direct access to the second round of Cincinnati Masters, to
defeat the former world number three, Nikolay Davydenko of Russia convincingly. He then took down world number 13, Richard Gasquet of France, in straight sets, 67-5, 7-5, in the third round to book a date with the second seeded Nadal in the round of eight
at Cincinnati.
Fish has been in his sublime form this season and has made his place back to the top-10 players in the men’s ranking. He toppled over Andy Roddick to become the number one tennis player of the United States and is keen to turn
down a 0-6 record against Nadal in Friday’s quarter-final. Fish has finished as the runner-up at Cincinnati on two prior occurrences (i.e. in 2003, losing to Roddick and last year, losing to Roger Federer) and will certainly desire to bag the title this time
round.
Nadal recently outclassed Fish in the quarter-final of Wimbledon Championships last month, registering his sixth consecutive win over the American. Fish has never defeated Nadal one-on-one but the Spaniard’s last victory over Verdasco
hints about his debilitating form. The second seed was dragged in to tie breaker rounds in every set of the contest but he managed to manoeuvre his way to victory in the end.
“If you want to play someone like Rafa, you hope that he plays a match that’s four hours long before you play him," joked Fish after winning against Gasquet. “That’s as physical as it gets. It’s hot out there, so I’m sure he’ll
be pretty tired. He’s a human being. It’s a great opportunity for me. I’ve never beaten him before. This is probably a surface that I would choose to play him on if I were to pick: something hot, something quick.”
Nadal is favourite for winning the Friday’s matchup but Fish is very confident to break the winning streak of the Spaniard against him in the quarter-final. It will surely be a treat to watch for, with two of their countries best
players battling it hard for a place in the semi-finals.
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