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  • Rafael Nadal takes on fellow clay courter Igor Andreev in Beijing

    8/12/08 8:55 PM | Cheryl Murray
    - Rafael Nadal’s match against Lleyton Hewitt was supposed to have been an early round highlight. Instead, the Spaniard dispensed of Hewitt 6-2, 6-1, displaying fantastic hard court form.

    Nadal is not generally thought of as huge threat on hards. The Spaniard has now mastered play on the natural surfaces (clay and grass), but the soon-to-be world number one is still vulnerable on hard courts. He only advanced to the round of 16 last year at the US Open, before losing to Davis Cup teammate David Ferrer. Nadal seems to have discovered the key to success on the only surface that has eluded him to a large extent.

    The Spaniard has improved his net play dramatically, and he has found a way to play more inside the court, instead of camping out behind the baseline and retrieving balls. All of that adds up to Nadal coming into the 2008 Olympic games as a contender for gold. His opponent is the inconsistent but crafty Russian Igor Andreev.

    Andreev has had a few great results in 2008, most recently in Gstaad and Umag where he made consecutive finals. That was on clay, though, where Andreev is at his best. The Russian had a good win over Radek Stepanek in Cincinnati, but he went down in the third round to Carlos Moya.

    For Andreev to have a chance to win this match, he will have to hope that Nadal’s vicious forehand and biting cross court backhand are off, otherwise it will be another easy win for the Spaniard. Nadal in two.

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