The Hindu : Sport : Nadal wins revenge match with Andreev

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Friday, May 18, 2007
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Nadal wins revenge match with Andreev

- PHOTO: AFP

HOW WAS THAT? Patty Schnyder celebrates after defeating Samantha Stosur in the Italian Open on Thursday.

HAMBURG: Rafael Nadal hurtled to his 79th success in his record-breaking clay court winning streak and in the process avenged himself on the last man to beat him on this surface.

Nadal won 6-4, 6-1 against Igor Andreev, who beat him in April 2005 in Valencia but who now missed a chance of applying pressure in the first set and, like so many before him, was increasingly worn down in the second by the French Open champion's relentless mobility and muscular topspins.

Nadal's success made him the first player into the quarterfinals, underlining him as the strong unofficial favourite to win the Masters Series title here for the first time and to maintain his supremacy over World No. 1 Roger Federer on clay.

Earlier, Ivan Ljubicic became one of eight seeds to have departed the tournament so far when he was beaten 6-3, 6-3 by David Ferrer, the former top ten player and enduring clay court specialist.

Schnyder grateful

Former finalist Patty Schnyder cut short the giant-killing run of Australian Samantha Stosur with a 6-4, 6-4 third-round win on Thursday at the Italian Open in Rome.

Gusty conditions didn't do any favours for Stosur, who stunned French top seed Amelie Mauresmo in three sets the day before. Schnyder was quietly grateful for the trying wind on the secondary showcase Petrangelli court at the Foro Italico. ``I've been shaky winning matches this season,'' said the Swiss, who lost the final two years ago to Mauresmo.

Elena Dementieva secured quick revenge for a loss last week to Nadia Petrova as her fellow Russian was forced to retire with a lower back injury trailing 4-3. Petrova had improved her record against the fifth-seeded Petrova to 7-4 after beating Dementieva in straight sets in Berlin.

But Petrova said that a fall on her lower back last week during gym training began to play up during her third-round match at the Foro Italico. After taking treatment, she played one point in the eighth game before retiring.

Dementieva, seeded ninth, reached her second quarterfinal of the season after Tokyo and will next face Serb third seed Jelena Jankovic, who beat Alona Bondarenko of the Ukraine 6-4, 7-5.

Mauresmo's woes

On Wednesday, Mauresmo suffered her second successive early exit when she lost 7-5, 6-7(4), 7-6(7) to Stosur. Mauresmo, who hadn't dropped a set in her five previous meetings with Stosur, struggled from the start this time.

The results:

At Hamburg (ATP Masters Series): Singles: Third round: David Ferrer bt Ivan Ljubicic 6-3, 6-3; Carlos Moya bt James Blake 1-6, 6-3, 6-3; Rafael Nadal bt Igor Andreev 6-4, 6-1; Roger Federer bt Juan Carlos Ferrero 6-2, 6-3; Nicolas Almagro bt Jose Acasuso 6-2, 6-3.

Second round: Nikolay Davydenko bt Gilles Simon 6-7(5), 6-4, 7-5; Acasuso bt Philippo Volandri 3-6, 7-6(7-3), 6-3; Jarkko Nieminen bt Florian Mayer 6-2, 6-4; Novak Djokovic bt Julien Benneteau 7-6(5), 6-3; Jurgen Melzer bt Richard Gasquet 6-3, 6-4; Fernando Gonzalez bt Paul-Henri Mathieu 7-5, 6-4; Andreev bt Philipp Kohlschreiber 6-7(3), 6-1, 6-4; Nadal bt Oscar Hernandez 7-5, 6-1; Blake bt Arnaud Clement 6-2, 6-3; J. Ferrero bt Marat Safin 6-3, 7-6(15).

At Rome (WTA Italian Open): Third round: Elena Dementieva bt Nadia Petrova 4-3 (retd.); Daniela Hantuchova bt Anna Chakvetadze 6-2, 6-3; Patty Schnyder bt Samantha Stosur 6-4, 6-4. Second round: Svetlana Kuznetsova bt Mara Santangelo 6-3, 6-3; Jelena Jankovic bt Tamira Paszek 6-3, 6-4; Shahar Peer bt Ai Sugiyama 6-0, 6-2; Kateryna Bondarenko bt Karolina Sprem 6-3, 6-4; Stosur bt Amelie Mauresmo 7-5, 6-7(4), 7-6(7); Hantuchova bt Sybille Bammer 6-1, 6-2; Chakvetadze bt Zi Yan 6-1, 6-3; Petrova bt Meghann Shaughnessy 7-6(5), 6-1; Alona Bondarenko bt Tathiana Garbin 6-4, 6-2. — Agencies

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