Match report

Nicolas Kiefer © Tennistalk.com
Wimbledon
3rd round
6/28/08 1 2 3 Tot
de  Nicolas Kiefer 6 3 2 3 0
es  Rafael Nadal 7 7 6 6 3
Rafael Nadal © Tennistalk.com

  • Rafael Nadal makes quick work of Nicolas Kiefer

    6/29/08 4:36 AM | Cheryl Murray
    Wimbledon third round action - Spanish phenom Rafael Nadal defeated Nicolas Kiefer of German comfortably after a tight first set.

    Kiefer stuck with the world number two for the first set. Kiefer was able to make inroads on Nadal's service game at 3-3, but Nadal played good clutch tennis to stave him off. As he had with his previous match, Nadal required some time to adjust to Kiefer's big serve. The German was able to force a first set tie break. Nadal got the first mini-break at 1-2 and another on a fantastic drop shot at 2-4. He made no mistake closing out the set.

    The second set was all Nadal. He was able to break Kiefer straight away and would do so once more to take the set 6-2. Nadal began to find his groove on his own serve. He held comfortably throughout the set and he smothered Kiefer with his return game.

    All evidenced pointed to a win at love or one for the Spaniard in the third. He jumped out to a 5-0 lead, but Kiefer decided he wanted to stick around for a while. He held serve for 5-1 and actually managed to break Nadal for 5-2. Nadal played a tight set, including a missed overhead smash at 15-30 that gave the German two break chances. Kiefer got a second wind, firing three aces in his next service game. Nadal did not waste any more time taking the wind out of his sails though. He won on his first match point.

    Rafael Nadal will play Mikhail Youzhny in the round of 16 on Monday. Youzhny took Nadal to five sets when they met at Wimbledon in 2007.

  • Thumbs up

    Nicolas Kiefer put up a better fight than expected.

  • Thumbs down

    In the end Kiefer just didn't have enough to really give Nadal a test.

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