Nadal extends winning streak to 16, Murray puzzled at exit
Rafael Nadal hardly had to get his socks dirty to extend his winning streak to 16 matches. Back to being the best player on tour over the last month, Nadal advanced from his opening match at the Italian Open yesterday when Nicolas Almagro retired in the first set with an apparent injury.
Top-ranked Angelique Kerber, meanwhile, lost her opening match at the Foro Italico to Estonian qualifier Anett Kontaveit 6-4, 6-0.Kerber joined Andy Murray, the top-ranked men’s player, on the sidelines after Murray’s loss to Fabio Fognini on Tuesday. “Everybody knows I’m not a claycourt specialist,” Kerber said. “I was not playing good last year as well. I had a great year, but I mean, these few weeks I was not playing good. And this year it’s the same.”
Also, Olympic silver medalist Juan Martin del Potro defeated British player Kyle Edmund 7-5, 6-4. Nadal was leading 30, 15-30 when Almagro bent over toward the red clay court and grasped his left knee. Nadal went over to Almagro’s side of the net to ask what was wrong and consoled his countryman. Almagro then got some medical attention at his chair but quickly retired from the second-round match.
“It’s difficult to see what’s going on now just after what happened,” Nadal said. “He felt something on the knee.” The fourthranked Nadal remained on court for a practice session. Nadal has won consecutive clay-court tournaments in Monte Carlo, Barcelona and Madrid. He’s aiming for an eighth title at the Foro Italico as he prepares for the French Open, which starts in less than two weeks. Nadal will next face either 13th-seeded Jack Sock or Jiri Vesely of the Czech Republic. The 73rd-ranked Almagro had come through qualifying.
Also, seventh-seeded Kei Nishikori beat David Ferrer 7-5, 6-2 and will next face del Potro. Nishikori showed no lingering pain from the right wrist injury that prompted him to withdraw from the quarterfinals in Madrid last week. “My wrist is OK now. I assume to be 100 percent now,” Nishikori said. Kerber returned to No 1 this week despite getting eliminated early in her past two tournaments. She hasn’t won a title this year but was able to move up in the rankings with Serena Williams pregnant and taking the rest of the year off. Also, second-seeded Karolina Pliskova defeated Lauren Davis of the United States 6-1, 6-1, and sixth-seeded Simona Halep beat Laura Siegemund of Germany 6-4, 6-4. Eighthseeded Elina Svitolina eliminated Alize Cornet of France 6-4, 7-6 (11), and 15thseeded Kiki Bertens beat American qualifier CiCi Bellis 6-4, 6-0.
World number one Andy Murray is unsure what caused his recent slump after his Italian Open title defense ended with a 6-2 6-4 defeat by home favorite Fabio Fognini in the second round. Murray had his most successful season on clay last year, winning one out of three finals, but has seen his fortunes on the surface reverse with the loss to Fognini marking three unsuccessful clay tournaments in a row. “I wasn’t creating enough chances on my own,” Murray was quoted by the ATP website. “Normally during matches your opponent might give you a few opportunities with some errors, and obviously you hope to create a few yourself. That certainly wasn’t the case today. The only chance I really got was when he was making errors.”
Murray has won one out of seven tournaments this season, exiting in the Round of 16 or earlier in four of those. He was eliminated in the semi-finals at the Barcelona Open and his only title win was at the Dubai Open in March. The 30-yearold was particularly unhappy with his movement on the court. “Movement the last two weeks has not been good,” Murray said. “My movement has been a big help, the last couple of years, but certainly the last couple of weeks, that’s been a problem. So I need to address that.” The Briton also said his number one ranking had nothing to do with his performances. “I’m just not playing well and I don’t think it’s to do with my ranking,” Murray added. Next up for Murray is the French Open that starts next week. — Agencies