Rafael Nadal beats Daniel Gimeno-Traver in straight sets on Friday in Vina del Mar. Nadal advances to a semifinal meeting with either Jeremy Chardy or Paolo Loreni.
Rafael Nadal continued his winning ways with a 6-1, 6-4 defeat of Daniel Gimeno-Traver during quarterfinal action at the VTR Open on Friday evening. The top-seeded Spaniard held all nine of his service games while fighting off four break points–all in the match’s final game–to prevail in one hour and 24 minutes.
Nadal stormed out of the gates and played superior tennis to what had been on display in a routine 6-3, 6-2 second-round victory over Federico Delbonis. The world No. 5 forced Gimeno-Traver into a backhand error on break point in the second game and held comfortably en route to a 3-0 advantage. Nadal added another break for good measure at 5-1 before serving it out and converting set point with a powerful forehand winner.
Not wanting to be completely destroyed by his favored countryman, Gimeno-Traver dug deep in set two. The world No. 64 held his first four service games with extreme ease on the way to a 4-3 lead, but he cracked with the pressure on in the ninth game. Gimeno-Traver saved one break point with a crushing backhand only to dump a forehand in the middle of the net at 30-40.
Nadal’s last service effort proved to be far his toughest off the day. He staved off two break points with big forehands, one with an overhead smash, and another when his opponent went for way too big of a forehand return. Gimeno-Traver also saved two match points with clutch winners, but he finally erred on the third by shanking a forehand into the upper echelons of the stadium.
Nadal finished with one ace and one double-fault as he booked a semifinal matchup against either Jeremy Chardy or Paolo Lorenzi.
last few points of the match:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xXBRKroPqBc]
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