Rafael Nadal scores a straight-set victory over Carlos Berlocq in the Shanghai third round on Thursday. Nadal will battle Stanislas Wawrinka for a place in the semifinals. Hasan Murad recaps the action.
Rafael Nadal was made to work for a berth in the quarterfinals of the Shanghai Rolex Masters on Thursday night. The Spaniard was in devastating form early in the match before getting past Carlos Berlocq 6-1, 7-6(5) in one hour and 50 minutes.
The world No. 1 came out with an attacking mindset as he raced to a 3-1 lead in the opening set and continued the strong momentum by breaking Berlocq’s serve for the second time with a series of scorching inside-out and down-the-line forehand winners for a 4-1 advantage. Despite Berlocq playing fine tennis and making only three unforced errors in the set, Nadal continued to surge and wrapped it up with 19 winners to just four unforced errors.
Berlocq did not get demoralized with the scoreline failing to do justice to his strong level. The veteran Argentine started to play with even more variation and took advantage of a dip both in Nadal’s intensity and aggressiveness. The entire second set stayed on serve with Berlocq saving break points in the seventh game by virtue of excellent serving and aggressive hitting off his forehand. In the tiebreaker, Berlocq continued to make inroads to the net by pummeling Nadal’s backhand and it earned the underdog a healthy 5-2 advantage. Not too surprisingly, though, Nadal responded by reeling off five consecutive points to steal the ‘breaker and the match.
A high-quality encounter ended with impressive statistics for both players. Nadal managed 78 percent first serves in and finished with 35 winners to 14 unforced errors while Berlocq finished with 26 winners to 12 errors. Nadal will take on the world No. 8 Stanislas Wawrinka in Friday’s night session.
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