Klizan stuns Nadal in last 8 as Serena pulls out with injury
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RAFAEL Nadal was upset by big-hitting qualifier Martin Klizan of Slovakia 6-7 (7), 6-4, 6-3 in the quarterfinals of the China Open in Beijing last night.
The second-seeded Spaniard struggled with Klizan’s power game and his own consistency in just his third match back following a two-month layoff due to a right wrist injury.
Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray, meanwhile, set up a semifinal showdown with convincing wins over two young players enjoying breakthrough seasons.
The top-seeded Djokovic defeated Wimbledon semifinalist Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria 6-2, 6-4, while sixth-seeded Murray took out US Open champion Marin Cilic 6-1, 6-4.
On the women’s side, Serena Williams withdrew before her quarterfinal against Samantha Stosur with a left knee injury that raised doubts about her ability to play the WTA Finals in Singapore this month.
Third-seeded Petra Kvitova and fourth-seeded Maria Sharapova both won to make the semifinals.
Djokovic said that while younger players like Cilic, Dimitrov, US Open finalist Kei Nishikori and Wimbledon semifinalist Milos Raonic are improving quickly and challenging at the majors, he believes it will still be a while before there’s a changing of the guard in men’s tennis.
His patience and experience showed against the fifth-seeded Dimitrov, who broke Djokovic twice in the second set but was unable to build on the momentum, making costly errors to give the breaks right back.
“It’s logical to expect that in the sport, after so many years of dominance by three, four players, there are some others who are coming up,” he said. “But on the other hand, it’s still not happening that they are the ones who are winning grand slams and being top three, four in the world.
“It takes time. How long? I don’t know. I’ll make sure that they don’t come any time soon.”
Murray is enjoying his best stretch since back surgery last autumn and missing several months of the season. He lost a close four-set match to Djokovic at the US Open and captured his first title since his 2013 Wimbledon triumph last week in Shenzhen.
He’s hoping to carry that momentum today against Djokovic, who holds a 13-8 advantage in their series.
While there have been few injury surprises in the men’s draw, the women’s side has been hit hard. Defending champion Williams was joined on the sidelines by second-seeded Simona Halep, who withdrew from her quarterfinal against Ana Ivanovic on Thursday with a hip injury.
Williams said the pain was so bad during her three-set win over Lucie Safarova on Thursday, she had no choice but to pull out.
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