Nadal extracts Rosol revenge, Serena hot
Print Edition
RAFAEL Nadal was one point away from falling behind by two sets before rallying yesterday to beat Lukas Rosol, the Czech player who knocked him out at Wimbledon in the same round and on the same court two years ago.
The top-ranked Nadal, a two-time Wimbledon champion, raised his game just in time to avoid falling into a deep hole, rallying for a 4-6, 7-6 (6), 6-4, 6-4 victory on the All England Club’s Centre Court to advance to the third round.
The hard-hitting 1.96-meter Rosol had a chance to go up two sets to love when he had a set point at 6-5 in the second-set tiebreaker. But Nadal saved it with a forehand winner and Rosol double-faulted two points later to give the Spaniard the set.
As Nadal hopped and pumped his fist, his coach and uncle, Toni, jumped out of his seat in the guest box, shouted “Vamos” and also celebrated with a display of fist pumps. That turnaround gave Nadal the momentum and he dominated play the rest of the way.
“I just wanted to keep fighting and wait for my moment,” Nadal said.
Nadal broke for the first time to go up 2-1 in the third set, and closed out the set by holding serve at love and finishing with an ace. At one stage at the end of the third set and beginning of the fourth, Nadal won 14 points in a row.
While Nadal was made to work, five-time women’s champion Serena Williams wasted no time in reaching the third round, routing Chanelle Scheepers 6-1, 6-1 in just 49 minutes.
Chasing her 18th grand slam title, the top-seeded American overwhelmed the 94th-ranked South African in the opening match on Court 1, hitting eight aces and notching 26 winners.
The 30-year-old Scheepers had only five winners but 13 unforced errors.
Other early women’s winners included No. 11 Ana Ivanovic, who beat China’s Zheng Jie 6-4, 6-0 and No. 25 Alice Cornet.
Among other men’s matches, Australian teenager Nick Kyrgios saved nine match points to beat No. 13 seed Richard Gasquet 3-6, 6-7 (4), 6-4, 7-5, 10-8.
Eighth-seeded Milos Raonic of Canada advanced with 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 win over Jack Sock of the United States and No. 24 Gaels Monfils lost to Czech Jiri Vesely 6-7 (3), 3-6, 7-6 (1), 7-6 (3), 4-6.
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