Rafael Nadal gets past Philipp Kohlschreiber in straight sets on Wednesday in Beijing. Next up for Nadal is a quarterfinal date with Fabio Fognini, who destroyed Lleyton Hewitt.
(2) Rafael Nadal d. Philipp Kohlschreiber 6-4, 7-6(3)
Nadal improved to 24-0 on hard courts this season by taking out Kohlschreiber in one hour and 54 minutes during second-round action at the China Open on Wednesday night. Kohlschreiber had extended Nadal to four sets at this summer’s U.S. Open, and the underdog was competitive again in this one. A back-and-forth first set saw Nadal twice give back breaks before his third scalp of the Kohlschreiber serve came at 5-4 to wrap up the opener in style.
Both players took care of their serves throughout the second. Kohlschreiber did not face a single break point and the 25th-ranked German won 16 of 18 first-serve points. Nadal saved three break points to force a tiebreaker, in which he picked up the pace to dominate seven points to three. The second-seeded Spaniard converted match point at 6-3 with a brilliant backhand pass. Nadal struck three aces and two double-faults en route to a quarterfinal clash against Fabio Fognini.
Fabio Fognini d. (WC) Lleyton Hewitt 6-0, 6-2
Hewitt is still going relatively strong at 32 years old, as his recent fourth-round showing at the U.S. Open suggests. But at this point in his career he is prone to flat performances from just about of nowhere, and he endured one on Wednesday. The veteran Aussie won only two total games as Fognini crushed him in just 59 minutes.
Fognini did not lose a single game in the first set, with Hewitt completely unable to find the court. Set two at least featured some entertaining rallies, but almost all went Fognini’s way. The 19th-ranked Italian won six of seven return games in the match, won more than half of the points even when Hewitt made first serves, and won 71 percent of the points in which he got a look at a second delivery. Fognini is 0-2 lifetime against Nadal and 0-5 in sets.
[polldaddy poll=7444590]
Leave a Reply