The Hindu : Sport / Tennis : Federer cruises; Nadal stretched

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Apr 02, 2009
ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version

Sport

Sport - Tennis

Federer cruises; Nadal stretched

Leander Paes & Lukas Dlouhy crash out

— PHOTO: AFP

MAKING FRIENDS: Anna-Lena Groenefeld, Patty Schnyder, Chia-Jung Chuang and Sania Mirza took time off the tennis to meet some residents of the local zoo.

MIAMI: Roger Federer cruised through while top seed Rafael Nadal survived a stiff challenge as both reached the quarterfinals of the Sony Ericsson Open on Tuesday with straight-set triumphs.

Federer rolled over American qualifier Taylor Dent 6-3, 6-2 while Nadal was made to work for his 7-6(2), 7-6(4) win over No. 16 seed Stanislas Wawrinka.

Federer needed just 85 minutes to earn a berth in the final eight by ousting 27-year-old Dent who squandered eight break-points.

“I had to come up with some good passing shots to be able to make a difference,” Federer said. “He might have got a bit tired towards the end.”

Nadal needed two tiebreaks to beat the pesky Wawrinka in the two hour, 42 minutes marathon match. Wawrinka jumped out to a 3-1 lead in the second set before Nadal clinched it 7-4 in the tiebreak.

Nadal and Wawrinka traded blows in the first set then Nadal stepped up his game in that tiebreak winning 7-2.

“Important win for me here. Very important,” Nadal said. “To be in quarterfinals is always a good result.

“I was very focused and I played two good tiebreakers, so that’s very good.”

Russian eighth seed Svetlana Kuznetsova became the first semifinalist in the women’s draw by beating Danish 13th seed Caroline Wozniacki 6-4, 6-7(5), 6-1.

The 2006 champion will play No. 11 seed Victoria Azarenka, who beat unseeded Samantha Stosur 6-1, 6-0.

Nadal’s victory means eight of the top 10 seeds are into the quarterfinals for the first time in the tournament’s 25-year history. It is also the first time there are eight seeds in the quarterfinals.

“I think that’s good for tennis,” Nadal said. “And I think we are in one moment of the tennis history that the best players are always winning.

“For that reason, winning titles is almost more difficult than ever. Because all the time you have to play against the best.”

Federer advances to the next round where he will face fifth seeded American Andy Roddick who advanced with a 7-6(2), 6-4 win over France’s Gael Monfils.

“We’ve had some big matches over the years,” Federer said of Roddick. “I played him at the Australian Open and played well against him. He seems like he changed a couple of things in his game so it should be a good match.”

Serbian third seed Novak Djokovic also took a 6-3, 6-2 victory over Czech Tomas Berdych while British fourth seed Andy Murray routedViktor Troicki 6-1, 6-0.

Scotsman Murray will next face eighth-seeded Spaniard Fernando Verdasco, who bounced Czech 18th seed Radek Stepanek 6-2, 6-2.

Djokovic will next face French 10th seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, who eliminated seventh-seeded countryman Gilles Simon 6-7(4), 6-3, 6-2 in another fourth-round match.

Djokovic knows he is in for a fight. “I lost to Tsonga four times in a row, so he has a little advantage probably there,” Djokovic said. “But I think all the matches we played were very close so it’s going to be a challenge for me to win.”

Fourth seeds Leander Paes and Lukas Dlouhy crashed out with a shocking straight-set defeat at the hands of the unseeded Czech-Slovak pair of Frantisek Cermak and Michal Mertinak in the men’s doubles second round.

The results:

Men: Fourth round: Rafael Nadal bt Stanislas Wawrinka 7-6(2), 7-6(4); Roger Federer bt Taylor Dent 6-3, 6-2; Juan Martin Del Potro bt David Ferrer 6-3, 6-2; Andy Roddick bt Gael Monfils 7-6(2), 6-4; Fernando Verdasco bt Radek Stepanek 6-2, 6-2; Andy Murray bt Viktor Troicki 6-1, 6-0; Jo-Wilfried Tsonga bt Gilles Simon 6-7(4), 6-3, 6-2; Novak Djokovic bt Tomas Berdych 6-3, 6-2. Doubles: Second round: Frantisek Cermak & Michal Mertinak bt Leander Paes & Lukas Dlouhy 6-3, 6-3.

Women: Quarterfinals: Svetlana Kuzentsova bt Caroline Wozniacki 6-4, 6-7(5), 6-1; Victoria Azarenka bt Samantha Stosur 6-1, 6-0. — Agencies

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Sport