NADAL STRETCHES WIN STREAK TO 16
Rafael Nadal gets easy win after Nicolas Almagro retires in first set
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 on Wednesday 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 clay-court 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; fifth-seeded Milos Raonic defeated Germany veteran Tommy Haas 6-4, 6-3; and 16th-seeded Alexander Zverev beat Viktor Troicki 6-3, 6-4 and will next face Fognini.
“The stadium will be very loud for him. I’m very sure about that,” Zverev said of Fognini. “It’s going to be a fun day, a fun atmosphere and great match.”
Venus Williams, the 1999 champion, eliminated Lesia Tsurenko 6-4, 6-3.
Nadal was leading 3-0, 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.” /