Nadal shines as rain swamps Wimbledon

LONDON: Rafael Nadal overcame an early blip to defeat Kazakhstan´s Mikhail Kukushkin and reach the Wimbledon last 16, shining beneath the Centre Court roof on Saturday as heavy rain swept away the action outside.

The 2008 and 2010 champion dropped the opening set for the third time in three matches before turning things around in a 6-7 (4/7), 6-1, 6-1, 6-1 victory.

The second seeded Spaniard blitzed world number 63 Kukushkin, who had never won a match at Wimbledon before this year and had only ever beaten one top 10 player.

Nadal, the 28-year-old winner of 14 Grand Slam titles, won 17 of the last 19 games and goes on to face either Australia´s rising star Nick Kyrgios or Jiri Vesely of the Czech Republic for a place in the quarter-finals.

They had played just 15 minutes of their third-round match out on Court 17 before rain halted all action on the uncovered courts and forced All England Club organisers to cancel 24 doubles and junior matches by mid-afternoon.

Nadal had dropped the first set to Martin Klizan and Lukas Rosol in his first two rounds and Kukushkin, playing in his 21st tournament of the year, employed the same free-swinging tactics to bludgeon his way through the opener.

But in front of a Royal Box containing such sporting glitterati as retired Indian cricket master Sachin Tendulkar, ex-England football captain David Beckham and former Tour de France winner Bradley Wiggins, Nadal regained his composure to race away with the win.

From 1-1 in the second set to 3-0 in the fourth set, Nadal won 14 of 15 games and only faced his first break points of the tie at 2-0 in the fourth.

Kukushkin, a rare example of a player coached by his own wife, stopped the rot by getting on the board at 1-3.But it was a brief respite as Nadal stormed to victory with 41 winners and just 12 unforced errors. (AFP)

Nadal to play Djokovic in French Open final

PARIS: The world´s top two players, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic, will contest Sunday´s French Open final following the Spaniard´s 6-3, 6-2, 6-1 centre court demolition of Andy Murray on Friday.

Earlier Djokovic had won through his semi-final with a 6-3, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 win over Ernests Gulbis Of Latvia.

Top seed and eight-time winner Nadal now stands just one win away from becoming the first man to take the French Open title five times in a row, surpassing Bjorn Borg.

He also is on the cusp of a 14th Grand Slam title, which would put him level at second best on the all-time list with Pete Sampras and three behind Roger Federer.

Murray failed in his bid to become the first British player to contest the French Open final since Bunny Austin 77 years ago and will now turn his attention to defending his Wimbledon crown.

It was his worst loss to Nadal in nine Grand Slam match-ups between the two, surpassing the nine games he managed in the 2008 Wimbledon quarter-finals. "I think that today I played my best tennis at Roland Garros this year," said Nadal. "After 10 years of coming here and to be back in the final for the ninth time - it´s something I never believed would happen in my life. "He (Djokovic) is an unbelievable opponent. He is always a big challenge and I need to play at my very best. He beat me the last few times we played."

Nadal was aware that the last time he played Murray -- on clay in Rome last month -- the Scot won the first set 6-1, before losing in three.This time it was a very different scenario as the Spaniard, who turned 28 on Tuesday, hit the deck running, winning the first three games in just 10 minutes and for the loss of just three points.

Murray finally opened his account, but the one break of serve was enough for Nadal to take the first set 6-3.

It was another storming start to the second set from Nadal who bludgeoned two big forehand winners past Murray to set up breakpoint which he took when the seventh seed weakly hit a high forehand wide.

Murray was failing to make any impression on the Nadal serve with not a single break point offering him any hope, and it became an even steeper mountain to climb for him when he dropped serve for the third time to put Nadal 5-2 up.

The Majorcan duly pocketed the set by serving out to love and such was the one-sided nature of the contest that there was no sign of Murray´s habitual angry outbursts aimed at getting himself going.

The outcome looked a formality and when Nadal broke the Murray serve for the fourth time to lead 2-1 in the third the end was in sight for the 27-year-old Scot.

It came 18 minutes later when a dispirited Murray lost serve for the fifth and final time.

The win brought Nadal´s formidable record on the claycourts at Roland Garros, since making his debut in 2005, to 65 wins against the one loss, conceded to Robin Soderling of Sweden in a fourth round tie in 2009.

And it meant that he has now won 20 of the 23 Grand Slam semi-finals he has contested in his career, the last time he lost in the last four being against Juan Martin del Potro at the 2009 US Open. (AFP)

Nadal loses to Almagro in Barcelona

BARCELONA: World number one Rafael Nadal suffered his first defeat in Barcelona since 2003 on Friday when compatriot Nicolas Almagro ended his 41-match winning run in the Spanish city.

Top seed Nadal, the eight-time champion, lost 2-6, 7-6 (7/5), 6-4 to Almagro in a quarter-final lasting 13 minutes short of three hours.

Nadal, who lost in the Monte Carlo Masters quarter-finals to David Ferrer last week, had last been beaten in Barcelona when he was just 15 years old.

Despite the defeat, 27-year-old Nadal refused to panic with the defence of his French Open crown starting in just a month´s time.

He said losing a tennis match was nothing in comparison to the death of former Barcelona football coach Tito Vilanova who lost his battle with cancer at the age of 45 on Friday.

"To lose is not a drama. What has happened to Tito Vilanova is. We are left with his example and I send my support to his family," said Nadal. He added: "I was better in parts of the match, but sport is like that. It was my turn to lose and I congratulate Nico."

Nadal will next defend his Madrid and Rome Masters claycourt titles -- two of the 10 tournaments he won in 2013 after a seven-month injury lay-off.He could lose his world number one ranking with Novak Djokovic set to pounce."I lacked a bit of intensity at points in the match," added Nadal.

"That is tennis and now I have to suffer for a bit, but keep fighting and think about Madrid." (AFP)

Nadal into the semis at Miami

MIAMI: World No. 1 Rafael Nadal advanced to the semi-finals of the ATP Tour´s Miami Masters tournament Thursday by rallying to beat Canadian 12th seed Milos Raonic 4-6, 6-2, 6-4.

Spain´s Nadal, who has lost three times in the Miami final, clinched the victory on the first match point in the third set when Raonic failed to reach a spinning serve out wide on hardcourts at the Crandon Park Tennis Center. "Today was a special opponent with an unbelievable serve and with a strong game from the baseline. Normally I have to be better than him, so I tried to use that strategy," Nadal said.

Top seed Nadal advances to the semis, where he will face seventh seeded Tomas Berdych, who cooled off the red-hot Ukrainian Alexandr Dolgopolov in straight sets, 6-4, 7-6 (7/3), earlier in the day.

Raonic kept Nadal on his heels with his strong serving in the first set. But Nadal recovered quickly in the second to get a service break.

Nadal was on his toes and moving quicker side to side as he took advantage of Raonic´s slower second serve to win the final two sets to close out the two and a half hour match.

He tallied just two aces but won 47 of 63 points on his first serve. "I was lucky at the beginning of the second set because I started with a break and that was very important for me," Nadal said. "I felt that I finished the match playing better. "I think I started the match playing okay, but not playing well on the break points."

Raonic hammered eight aces but also made five double faults. Raonic won just 18 points on his second serve, or 39 percent, compared to a 57 percent second serve ratio for Nadal. "He just had the right approach after that first set," Roanic said. "We were both struggling quite a bit. He let go a little bit more. He´s been in that situation much more than I have. He dealt with it from a mental and strategical side better than I did."

Nadal has reached the quarter-finals or better in his last six appearances in Miami but he has failed to win the title. He lost three times in the final in 2011, 2008 and 2005. (AFP)