China Open—Beijing, China
No. 1 seed Rafael Nadal breezed into the semifinals in Beijing on Friday, dismissing former world No. 1 Marat Safin 6-3, 6-1.
The one hour and 17 minute affair was dominated by the swift movement of the Spaniard, relentlessly moving his taller opponent around the court.
Nadal used his serve to set up numerous forehand winners throughout his second straight set win over Safin. The pair had previous met during the 2007 Rogers Cup in Montreal.
Nadal saved all three break point chances against his serve, while breaking Safin's serve on four out of five opportunities.
Safin never got his teeth into the match, showing visible signs of being a step slow against his more explosive opponent.
Safin won 56 percent of his first serve points, and only 32 percent of his second serve deliveries. The Russian was competing in his second ATP World Tour quarterfinal of year, previously making the final eight of the LA Open in August.
The 29-year-old Russian, who will be retiring by year's end gave a rye smile to Nadal after the pair shook hands at the net. Nadal stood up while Safin left the court, applauding the two-time Grand Slam champ as he left China's National Tennis Center.
Safin addressed his on court tribute after his defeat.
"First of all, I think the whole ceremony was great—great videos, pretty funny ones," described Safin.
"It was nice for the organizers to do this for a player and very nice to see every person in the stands being there and supporting me and cheering for me rather than Nadal. But basically to see all of them, the fans, that have been supporting you for so many years just to say “bye bye” is a very nice feeling."
"If I could thank each personally, that would be great, but I said everything there. It’s hard to describe the feeling I have now, and it will never be enough but thank you and it is deep from the heart."
Safin fell to 13-18 on the year, while Nadal rose to 57-8 on the season. The Russian will now head to the Shanghai Masters 1000, continuing his farewell tour from tennis.
The Mallorcan will now set his sights on a first time meeting with No. 8 seed Marin Cilic.
The up and coming Croatian defeated Nikolay Davydenko 6-4, 6-4 for the third straight time in their respective careers.
Cilic was forced to fight back in both sets, combating the Russian's early breaks of serve.
On the strength of his loose limbed groundstrokes, Cilic captured four breaks of serve to advance to his third semifinal of the season.
Cilic didn't shy away from the baseline while his opponent hit countless off-the-rise shots. Holding his ground, Cilic redirected the flat groundstrokes of Davydenko to record his 39th win of the season, in one hour, 35 minutes.
Davydenko was bidding for his second straight title in as many weeks after capturing his third title of the season in Kuala Lumpur.
Cilic will be attempting to make his third final of the season on Saturday, adding to his titles in Chennai, India, and Zagreb, Croatia.
A win for Nadal on Saturday would mark his tour leading sixth final of the season. The Spaniard assessed his lanky semifinal opponent in his post match presser.
"He is very good because his style of game is very aggressive, serving very well all the time and hitting the ball very high," said Nadal.
"I saw him play against Murray in US Open and we saw mistakes so I have to play aggressive, I need to play inside the court and make him feel like if he has to win, he is going to have to play more than two or three good shots. I would like to push him with my forehand."
Elsewhere, No. 2 seed Novak Djokovic persevered through a second set meltdown to defeat Fernando Verdasco 6-3, 1-6, 6-1.
The seventh meeting between the heavyweight duo featured seven breaks of serve (four for Djokovic; three for Verdsaco), while the pair struck nine aces in total (six for Verdasco; three for Djokovic).
The one hour and 44 minute battle was magnified by court positioning.
Djokovic stood closer to the baseline and dictated play in the first set, while Verdasco returned the favor in set two. Djokovic once again established his nearness to the baseline in the third set which allowed him to capture his tour leading 61st victory of the season.
Verdasco failed to progress to his fifth semifinal of the year, and will now fly to Shanghai in his continued quest of capturing one of the remaining three spots in the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals.
5 Comments
Loading more comments...
This comment and all replies have been deleted This comment has been deleted Undo delete