TENNIS – Defending champion Rafa Nadal swept aside Italian Simone Bolelli 6-2 6-2 in front of Real Madrid football star Cristiano Ronaldo setting up a quarterfinal match against Grigor Dimitrov who edged past Stan Wawrinka with 7-6 (7-5) 3-6 6-3. Nadal will be looking to reach his fourth semifinal of the year. With this victory Nadal has extended his winning streak to 12 consecutive matches in the Madrid Caja Magica In the quarterfinals Nadal will face Grigor Dimitrov who beat Stan Wawrinka in three sets Diego Sampoalo
Nadal started off with a double fault and faced a break point on his first service game but Bolelli failed to convert. Nadal on the other hand did not waste his break opportunity to get to 3-2 and reeled off six consecutive games to pull away to 6-2 2-0 en route to another easy win on clay 6-2 6-2.
Nadal leads 5-0 in his head-to-head matches against Dimitrov including twice on clay.
“Everything worries me about Dimitrov. He is a very good player. He serves well and has a very good forehand and a good backhand”, said said Nadal about Dimitrov
Grigor Dimitrov rallied from a second-set down to overcome Stan Wawrinka with 7-6 (7-5) 3-6 6-3. It was the second win in this spring’s clay season against Wawrinka after dropping just three games in Monte-Carlo. The Bulgarian now leads 3-2 in his head-to-head matches against Wawrinka.
Wawrinka got the break in the fifth game of the first set for 3-2 but Dimitrov broke back. Both players remained on serve to force the tiebreaker where Dimitrov won it 7-5 points. Wawrinka converted on his fourth break point in the third game of the second set for 3-0 and held his serve until the end of the second set. Dimitrov saved two break points in the third set with his service winners. The Bulgarian got the decisive break in the 8th game for 5-3 before holding his serve in the next game.
Dimitrov fended off 10 of his 12 break points he faced.
“It was a tough match. He was up a break in the first set and he was playing good tennis, much better than he was playing in Monte-Carlo. What I think I did really well was to keep a good composure throughout the whole match. I was playing solid tennis, even though he was just outplaying me and over powering me. After breaking in the third set, I felt really comfortable to step in and win the match and I think that’s the best thing I did today”, said Dimitrov.
Andy Murray was fully recovered from his late night/early morning match in the previous round against Philipp Kohlschreiber. Murray dismantled Marcel Granollers 6-2 6-0. Granollers on the other hand clearly did not fully recovered from his marathon match against Gael Monfils. Murray broke serve twice in the first set and then broke three more times in the second set to complete the victory.
Tomas Berdych has reached his eighth quarter final after his 7-5 6-2 win over Jo Wilfred Tsonga. Berdych got an early break in the first set but Tsonga broke back to draw level to 4-4. Berdych held his serve in his next service games en route to 6-5. Tsonga went down 0-40 in the 12th game and dropped the first set with a couple of unforced errors. Berdych broke serve twice early in the second set and in the last game for 7-5 6-2. Berdych won 70 percent of his service points and converted four of his five break points. Berdych has reached at least the semifinals in six of his seven events.
Berdych will take on John Isner who overcame 20-year-old Australian Nick Kyrgios 6-3 6-7 (7-9) 6-4. Kyrgios fended off a match point at 6-5 in the tie-break of the second set to force the match to the third set. Isner got the decisive break to win the third set with 6-4.
“For sure he is a little bit tired. He made the finals last week in Estoril and had that incredible match last night against Roger. He had extended a lot of energy, whereas I was feeling great. ”, said Isner
David Ferrer won the all-Spanish clash against Fernando Verdasco with 5-7 6-3 6-4 to reach the quarter finals in Madrid for the sixth consecutive final. Ferrer led 4-3 in the first set before Verdasco reeled off eight consecutive points. At 6-5 Verdasco committed three double faults but managed to win the first set on his third set point with 7-5.
At the start of the second set Verdasco failed to convert a break point with a forehand error. Ferrer broke serve to take a 4-1 lead. Verdasco won two games in a row for 3-4 but Ferrer took control of the match and sealed the win when Verdasco committed a double fault on the set point. Ferrer broke serve in the seventh game of the third set before closing out the match with a smash.
In the quarter finals Ferrer will face Kei Nishikori who defeated Roberto Bautista Agut 6-3 6-3. The 2014 US Open finalist played a great first set in which he cruised to 6-3 before a tougher second set in which Bautista Agut earned his only two break points when Nishikori was serving for the match. In the first set Nishikori broke serve in the third game with a forehand drop-shot. He closed out the set with another break in the ninth game.
The second set went on serve until 4-3 for Nishikori when the Japanese went up 30-0 in the 8th game and earned a break point which Bautista Agut saved. Bautista earned two break points but she made two errors. Nishikori closed out on his first match point after 1 hour and 11 minutes.
The busy Thursday programme ended with the match between Milos Raonic and Leonardo Mayer The first set went on serve until the 10th game when Mayer went down 15-30 before dropping his serve to lose the set with 6-4. Mayer was broken at the start of the second set with a double fault and went down 0-3. Raonic faced three break points but he saved them in the third game. Raonic will face Murray in the quarter finals.
