Murray, Serena pull out as Nadal cruises
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RAFAEL Nadal became the first player to break John Isner’s serve in nearly a month, and he did it twice in a 6-4, 6-4 win yesterday to reach the Italian Open quarterfinals in Rome.
Andy Murray and Serena Williams, meanwhile, both withdrew from the last big warm-up tournament before the French Open, which starts in 10 days.
Murray cited fatigue following consecutive clay titles in Munich and Madrid, while Williams said she has been struggling with a right elbow injury.
The 16th-seeded Isner had held serve in 84 consecutive games stretching back to his last meeting with Nadal on April 16 in the Monte Carlo Masters, when Nadal broke him in the third set and went on to win.
This time, Nadal broke to take a 3-2 lead in the first set with a forehand winner that landed on the line on his first break point. Then the Spaniard produced a whipping forehand return passing shot up the line off Isner’s second serve to go up 5-4 in the second, and quickly closed it out from there.
“When I had chances I (took advantage),” Nadal said. “My serve was perfect the whole match. I played with (few) mistakes.”
Nadal will next face eighth-seeded Swiss Stan Wawrinka, who beat Dominic Thiem of Austria 7-6 (3), 6-4.
Also advancing was seventh-seeded David Ferrer, who defeated fellow Spaniard Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 6-1, 6-3. Ferrer’s quarterfinal opponent will be David Goffin of Belgium, who advanced when Murray pulled out.
In women’s action, second-seeded Simona Halep routed 1999 Rome champion Venus Williams 6-2, 6-1; two-time champion Maria Sharapova beat Serbian qualifier Bojana Jovanovski 6-3, 6-3; and 10th-seeded Carla Suarez Navarro defeated 10th-seeded Eugenie Bouchard 6-7 (2), 7-5, 7-6 (7).
American Christina McHale made the last eight when Serena withdrew.
While seven-time Rome champion Nadal is now 6-0 against Isner, he had to come back from a 1-2 deficit during a meeting in the first round of the 2011 French Open.
On Monday, Nadal dropped out of the top five in the ATP rankings for the first time in 10 years — falling to No. 7. Struggling to get back to his best after a wrist injury and an appendectomy last season, Nadal has lost four times on clay this year — something he hasn’t done since 2003.
But he remains optimistic.
“It seems like I’m having much more good days than bad days,” Nadal said.
Murray dominated Nadal in Sunday’s Madrid Open final, a week after taking his first clay title in Munich. “I’m tired. My body is tired,” Murray said. “It’s completely normal and I think acceptable to feel like that after the last few weeks.”
Serena is trying not to make the same mistake as last year and let an injury affect her chances at Roland Garros. “We have to make the right decisions for the future, not for now,” she said. “You know I hate, hate quitting, and this isn’t quitting, it’s just making a good decision.”
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