Nadal, Federer cruise into quarters

SHANGHAI — Rafael Nadal won his 14th consecutive match to reach the Shanghai Masters quarterfinals, beating Fabio Fognini of Italy 6-3, 6-1 on Thursday.

Fognini occupied Nadal for 63 minutes, nine minutes longer Nadal's second-round match.

Roger Federer, seeded second to Nadal, also was not detained for long as he defeated Ukrainian qualifier Alexandr Dolgopolov 6-4, 6-2.

"Of course it's good news, and especially in this part of the season," Nadal said. "Its better like this than having long matches. You save a little bit more the body.

"It doesn't matter how long you are on court, (the) most important thing is be enough competitive to (handle) all the situations."

Nadal hadn't won an ATP hard-court title in more than three years until the U.S. Open last month, and now he's gunning for his third in five weeks.

Nadal saved both break points he faced in the roundof-16 match, in the fourth game of the second set.

The Cebu leg, which is handled by BRO Nationals FC, serves as the kick-off of a fourleg series.

Teams will be spread in different classes with the under-9 division having the most number of entries at 15. The men’s open and under 13 has 12 while the under 11 and under 15 has 11 squads each.

The corporate division, on the other hand, will have eight teams competing, while the women’s open, boys 19 and 35 above have five, boys 17 with seven, under-7 with six and boys 19 and the girls 19 with three teams battling it out for the title.

After Cebu, action shifts to Pampanga and Romblon. The National Finals will be staged in Manila with no confirmed date and venue.—

Caecent No-ot Magsumbol