Nadal didn’t quite enjoy the same sort of emphatic opening win recorded by Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray – but neither did he fall victim to an early, surprise defeat like Roger Federer and David Ferrer, and arguably had a better excuse than either to do so as he faced Ivo Karlovic, whose mammoth delivery the words “big-serving” seem thoroughly inadequate to describe, on Wednesday. Last week, he surged to a sixth China Open crown in Beijing for the loss of just 18 games in five matches – the lowest five-match total of his career en route to a title.
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He will in the third round take on another American and No. 13 seed John Isner, who won 6-3, 7-6 (5) over Belgian David Goffin and powered a whopping 21 aces on his way to the victory.
Jankovic in last 8 Former world number one Jelena Jankovic breezed through to the quarter-finals of the Hong Kong Open Wednesday in a straight sets victory that took just under an hour.
Djokovic said: ‘I think scheduling is one of the key factors of my ability to be consistent throughout the entire year, just being able to peak at the right time and then recover, which is equally as important as the work, as the performance. Many matches won on this court as well helps me to be more comfortable starting the match and playing in it, as well’. That ” s the most important thing for me today.
You can see Murray in Thursday’s first match from 6.30am on Sky Sports 3 HD.
Also meeting for the first time were Asian No. 1 Kei Nishikori of Japan and 20-year-old Australian Nick Kyrgios.
After winning the first set in 30 minutes, Kyrgios began to unravel at the end of the second set when he smacked a ball in frustration toward the baseline, causing a line judge to bend to avoid being hit.
“I’m aware of the mental edge that I might have over a certain amount of players, and I try to use that”, continued the Serb. “My serve wasn’t going in, especially in the beginning”. Three winners from his first serve.
The match lasted 2 hours, 43 minutes.
Tomic said he’s feeling increasingly more confident than he was at the start of the year when his ranking dipped into the 70s.
“This is my best year”, he said.
Both players had equal chances in all the three sets, but Nadal held his nerve to score a much-needed win. “I’m a bit smarter and wiser”.
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French Open champion Stan Wawrinka also maintained his winning run yesterday with a 7-6 6-3 victory over Viktor Troicki to set up a third-round contest with Marin Cilic.
