Johannesburg, May.5: World number one Novak Djokovic and defending champion Andy Murray produced contrasting performances to secure their berths in the quarterfinals of the Madrid Masters on Thursday.
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The two-time Grand Slam champion extends his impressive record over Simon to 14-2, but wasn’t pushed as hard as he often has been in the past by the Frenchman as he didn’t even face a break point in just over an hour-and-a-half on court.
The results: Men: Third round: Andy Murray bt Gilles Simon 6-4, 6-2; Kei Nishikori bt Richard Gasquet 6-4, 7-5; Tomas Berdych bt David Ferrer 7-6 (8), 7-5; Novak Djokovic bt Roberto Bautista Agut 6-2, 6-1. “Today it was a little bit slower”.
Djokovic was never in trouble against the 15th seed, who reached the semi-finals in Madrid in 2014, as he moved into the last-eight of the tournament where he will go up against Milos Raonic or Jo-Wilfried Tsonga on Friday.
The world number two will next play the victor of the Tomas Berdych-David Ferrer clash in the last eight and was pleased with the way he dealt with a tricky opponent in round three.
Having visited the Santiago Bernabeu to see his team Real Madrid reach the Champions League final with a win over Manchester City on Wednesday, Nadal was back in more familiar surroundings against Querrey a day later. In the sixth game Nadal is with the should era on the wall since he has to save another unsafe break point that would have allowed Querrey to serve for the first set.
“It was generally a good match, I had chances in the first set”, Wawrinka said. “I served well throughout the match”.
“Whoever I get to play against, I know that one of the key elements for me and things that I have to do well in order to win is the return, get back in play as many balls as possible, serve well with the high percentage, and then hope for the best”.
Next up for Kyrgios will be Uruguan Pablo Cuevas, who produced a surprise win in three sets to knock out number 13 seed Gael Monfils 6-7 (5/7) 6-3 7-6 (7/4). “I watched his match against (Nicolas) Almagro, who won a tournament last week, and he beat him comfortably”.
In the women’s tournament, 19-year-old qualifier Louisa Chirico defeated Daria Gavrilova of Australia 7-6 (1), 6-2 to reach the semifinals.
Chirico beat 14th-seeded Ana Ivanovic in the second round, and took advantage of the late withdrawal of Victoria Azarenka in the third round.
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Number six Simona Halep heads the field after she beat Swiss 10th seed Timea Bacsinszky, a title-winner at the weekend in Morocco, 6-2, 6-3.
