Help
1/5/11 11:16 PM | Cheryl Murray
Rafael Nadal dropped the middle set in his second round match against Lukas Lacko, but found his footing to win in 3.
Rafael Nadal def. Lukas Lacko 7-6(3), 0-6, 6-3
Rafael Nadal started off his match against Lukas Lacko of Slovakia in alarming fashion. The Spaniard was broken at 1-1 to give Lacko a break lead. In typical Nadal fashion, he broke back in Lacko’s next service game to level things again. The Slovak did not give up hope. Lacko hit his forehand beautifully for the rest of the set to force a tiebreaker.
Nadal’s superior experience saw him through the break to give him a set lead, but the world No. 1 completely lost his way in the middle set. Lacko blasted through Nadal’s service games and permitted the Spaniard just 11 points for the entire set.
The top seed was quick to put the second set behind him. He kicked off the third with 3 consecutive games and held onto his advantage to send Lacko packing. Nadal was reportedly suffering from a fever this week. He will take on Latvia’s Ernests Gulbis in the quarterfinals.
Roger Federer def. Marco Chiudinelli 7-6(5), 7-5
Roger Federer produced winning put awkward tennis on Wednesday to get past compatriot Marco Chiudinelli in tough straight sets. Chiudinelli had the Swiss champion on the ropes and was up a break in the first set, but he couldn’t hold onto the lead. As the first set went to a tiebreaker, Federer started playing lackadaisical tennis and found himself once again in a hole. Chiudinelli was up a break and serving for the set, but lost both points on serve and Federer took the lead.
It was more uncharacteristically bad footwork and missed groundstrokes in the second set from Federer, but the world No. 2 was able to snag the match-winning break of serve at the tail-end of the set to win in straights.
Find the latest tennis odds at Unibet.com
Tell a friend »
I'm not sure winning in 7-6,7-5 can be considered as cruising. Both Fed and Rafa can do better than how they played yesterday. I'm not liking Rafa's chances against Gulbis. If he continues to play like he did yesterday, I think Rafa will suffer his first loss of the year here. If he is still sick, he should not be playing and make things worse for himself. If he takes to the court, I'll assume that he's fit to play and any loss suffered should not be due to his illness.
luckystar , 1/6/11 3:05 AM
@ luckystar,
yeah the article's title is strange really, Fed didn't cruise at all.
If Nadal is seriously ill I think he should leave the tournament and save himself for OZ. There is no need to burn himself in the less important tournament.
bolbol , 1/6/11 4:27 AM
Scan QR code to access Unibet mobile.
Bet on Sports wherever you are and whenever you like, with Unibet's quick and simple mobile client you can place bets, check results and see live odds.
For more info about QR codes & scanners click here.
Contact us
/ About us
/ Cookies
/ Recommended links
/ Advertise
/ Sitemap
Tennistalk v1.5.0
Disclaimer © 2001-2012, Moneytainment Media Ltd - All rights reserved
Playing with a fever is not smart, could take longer to recover now.
numero , 1/6/11 2:28 AM