Medvedev wins, Nadal forced out
A NAGGING left foot injury forced Rafael Nadal out of the ATP Toronto Masters yesterday as top seed Daniil Medvedev rallied to reach the third round.
Nadal, a five-time champion in Canada, pulled the plug on his participation before his scheduled second-round opener with plans to return to Spain for treatment of the injury which kept him from
Wimbledon and the Tokyo Olympics.
“I’ve had this issue for a couple of months,” he said. “It is not a happy situation after all the success that I had here in Canada.
“I need to go back (to Mallorca) and try to find a way to be better again. With this pain, I’m not able to enjoy (playing).
“I believe that I am not able to compete at the level that I need because the foot doesn’t allow me to move the way that I need,” added Nadal, who was the second seed in the hardcourt tournament.
Top-seeded Russian Medvedev opened his week in the second round after a bye and staged a fightback to overhaul Kazakh Alexander Bublik 46, 6-3, 6-4.
The Russian came back a changed man after a second-set rain delay.
“I was not playing well before the rain,” he said. “I was not feeling the ball and was missing on returns. “I just wanted to play better – I knew I had to if I was going to win.
“When we got back on court, I felt much better from the first game.”
Medvedev advanced with 27 winners and 28 unforced errors in the two-hour victory.
New world No. 3 Stefanos Tsitsipas cured an extended case of the jitters with a runaway third set to finally overcome Ugo Humbert 6-3,
6-7 (13-15), 6-1.
With the win he avenged a pair of previous losses to
Humbert, including in the third round of the
Olympics.
“It’s all about the fighting spirit,” Tsitsipas said. “I don’t like to give up.
“It was not easy out there, I had to put in a lot of effort and give my best.
“It didn’t work out for me in the second set but nothing could stop me in the third.”
Kei Nishikori, runner up in 2016, carried his Tokyo Olympic and
Washington momentum into a 6-4, 6-7 (57), 6-2 first-round win over Miomir Kecmanovic.
“My level is good, I’m playing some of my best tennis so far this year over the last couple of tournaments,” Nishikori said.
“I’m back on track now.” – AFP