Nadal schools Donaldson as he eases to victory in Shanghai
RAFAEL NADAL began his assault on a career-first title at the Shanghai Masters, spending less than a hour in hammering out a 6-2, 6-1 thrashing of American Jared Donaldson to reach the third round yesterday.
The top seed who has won his last two events at the US Open and Beijing, was unforgiving against his 56th-ranked opponent, running out the victory after a breakaway following the fourth game of the match.
Spain’s 16-time grand slam winner will next take on flamboyant and unpredictable Fabio Fognini, who has beaten him on three occasions.
World number one Nadal has now won his last 13 matches as he stays ahead of Roger Federer in the race for the year-end top ranking.
Federer, to the delight of his sizeable Chinese fan club, got the better of Argentina’s Diego Schwartzman 7-6 (4) 6-4.
Nadal, who leads the ATP rankings with six trophies this season, schooled Donaldson with a run of seven straight games to win the opening set in a canter and earn a 3-0 lead in the second. A break for 5-1 put the Spaniard within touching distance of victory, with Nadal finishing it off a game later.
Nadal is on the verge of claiming the year-end number one ranking for the fourth time after 2008, 2010 and 2013 as he improved to a 62-9 record for the season.
Third seed Alexander Zverev was handed a gift as British opponent Aljaz Bedene quit injured trailing 4-0. Sixth seed Grigor Dimitrov struggled to beat Ryan Harrison 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (8-6) in two and a half hours, saving three match points in the thriller.
“He played an unbelievable match, I’ve got to give him a lot of credit,” Dimitrov said of Harrison. “It was an interesting first round for me, to be honest.
“I appreciate matches like this the most, these are the matches that I want to win. Those are the matches that I build up. Even in the first set, I was feeling good.
“I just had to find my way through the match in order to start hitting the ball well. I’m just pretty happy with the win.”
The Bulgarian, 39-16 during 2017, is fighting for a place in next month’s season-ending championships in London, standing fifth in the points race for eight spots.
Dimitrov next plays another American in Sam Querrey, who beat Frances Tiafoe 6-3, 7-6 (9-7).
Frenchman Gilles Simon upset David Goffin, the eighth seed, 7-6 (7-4), 6-3. German Jan-Lennard Struff defeated US Open finalist Kevin Anderson 7-6 (7-5), 7-6 (7-2).
China’s Zhu Lin staved off a mid-match fightback to upset Petra Kvitova 6-4 5-7 6-4 for her maiden top-20 victory in the first round of the Tianjin Open yesterday.
Meanwhile, Maria Sharapova trounced ninth seed Irina-Camelia Begu 6-4 6-2 while China number one Shuai Peng defeated compatriot Hanyu Guo 6-2 7-6(5).
Japanese teenager Naomi Osaka fought back from an early break to stun Venus Williams 7-5 6-2 in straight sets and move through to the quarter-finals of the Hong Kong Open yesterday.
“I feel like even if I hit one semi-short ball she would come in and crush it, so I had to play really well,” Osaka said after the match. –