TENNIS- Rafa Nadal had to dig deep to battle past Marcos Bagdathis in three-sets with 7-6(5) 6-7(4) 6-2 setting up a quarterfinal against Bernard Tomic who beat Tommy Haas 7-6 (8-6) 6-2. Diego Sampaolo
Baghdatis, who beat Nadal only once in their eight previous encounters back in Cincinnati in 2010, converted only 1/9 break points in the 1st set. The opening set came down to the tie-break where Nadal opened up a 4-0 lead. Baghdatis won three consecutive points to claw his way back to 3-4 but Nadal closed out the set with 7-5.
Nadal, who won the Stuttgart tournament twice in 2005 and 2007 when the tournament was played on clay, broke Baghdatis in the 5th game of the 2nd set for 3-2 but Baghdatis broke straight back in the next game. Nadal had to save two set points when he was serving down 4-5. The player from Cyprus, now ranked 63 in the world, fought back from a mini-break down to clinch the second set at the tie-break. Nadal broke serve in the 4th game of the decider for 3-1 en route to clinching the third set with 6-2.
Bernard Tomic beat Tommy Haas 7-6(6) 6-2 in the second round of the Mercedes Cup in Stuttgart on grass to reach the quarterfinal stage of a tournament for the seventh time this year. Tomic converted 2/8 break points and dropped just ten points on serve
Haas came close to winning the tie-break in the first set when Tomic saved the first set point with a down-the-line backhand. Tomic got an early break in the first game of the second set (the first break of the match). The Australian player took a 3-0 lead
“I was down 6-4 in the tie-break and managed to hit an unbelievable pass. That was the turning point. I managed to hit the right shot at the right time. In the second set I felt like I played the right tennis and played really well. Match by match I am getting better, which is the most important thing I think”, said Tomic.
Mischa Zverev beat Andreas Seppi 6-2 6-4 to get through to get through to his first quarterfinal in two years. Seppi was broken to love in the first game and went down 0-3 after dropping his serve after a very long game at deuce. Seppi wsa broken again at 4-4 in the 2nd set when he hit his backhand into the net before wasting two break points in the next game.
“It took me two years to get back into an ATP quarter final. I have been through a lot of injuries”, said Zverev
