Nadal falls early again, Wawrinka also out
Print Edition
JUST a week after crashing out of the China Open in the early rounds in Beijing, world No. 2 Rafael Nadal failed to get past his first encounter at the Shanghai Rolex Masters last night.
The world No. 2, still not fully fit and only just recovering from the news that he has appendicitis for which he will need surgery, was out of sorts against fellow Spaniard Feliciano Lopez, losing 3-6, 6-7 (6).
Briefly in the second set, it looked as though the second seed was getting his rhythm back when he broke early but then squandered that chance as Lopez forced the tiebreaker.
Lopez set up a third-round clash with John Isner after the big-serving American 13th seed edged compatriot Steve Johnson 7-6 (6), 7-6 (7).
Earlier, Australian Open champion Stanislas Wawrinka, the fourth seed, and seventh-seeded US Open runner-up Kei Nishikori also exited early.
Wawrinka continued to struggle for late-season form after going down 7-5, 5-7, 4-6 to France’s Gilles Simon.
Wawrinka fell at the first hurdle in Tokyo last week and, after receiving an opening-round bye, the Swiss repeated the feat in Shanghai despite breaking Simon’s serve in the 12th game to take the first set.
Nishikori, meanwhile, lost to American Jack Sock 6-7 (5), 4-6 in an afternoon match at Qizhong Tennis Stadium.
The Japanese star seemed to have injured his back and called for medical treatment when he was 3-4 down in the second set. He won the next service game, but appeared to be dealing with some pain en route to the loss of the next two games as he bid farewell to the Shanghai court.
“(Sock) served very well. He has great footwork, big forehand, and there were almost no breakpoints for me,” the 24-year-old Nishikori said.
Sock next takes on Frenchman Julien Benneteau, who beat 10th-seeded Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov 7-5, 6-3.
There was no more joy for Chinese wildcard Wang Chuhan, who suffered a 0-6, 4-6 loss to Malek Jaziri of Tunisia.
The 22-year-old, ranked 553 in the world, upset 15th seed Fabio Fognini in his debut at the tournament on Tuesday.
“I’m not feeling so excited today maybe because yesterday I was a bit tired. I was trying to hit very hard and fast. That’s why I made a lot of unforced errors,” said Wang, whose exit means all Chinese players have been eliminated from this year’s Shanghai Rolex Masters.
Two-time defending champion Novak Djokovic started his campaign for a third successive title with a 6-3, 6-4 victory over Dominic Thiem of Austria.
Spaniard David Ferrer survived a hard-fought second-round clash against Martin Klizan, Nadal’s slayer in Beijing last week, emerging with a 4-6, 7-6 (4), 6-4 victory. The fifth seed broke the Slovak in the ninth game of the decider to end the 2-1/2-hour battle.
Ferrer faces Andy Murray next, the Scot having eased past Pole Jerzy Janowicz 7-5, 6-2.
In other matches, sixth seed Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic beat Frenchman Richard Gasquet 6-3, 6-1; Mikhail Youzhny of Russia eliminated Ivan Dodig of Croatia 7-6(7) 6-7(4) 6-3; and Canada’s Milos Raonic retired from his match against Juan Monaco of Argentina.
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