Nadal reaches quarterfinals, criticizes ball
Print Edition
RAFAEL Nadal is back in form on the tennis court — and in his sharp-tongued critiques of the ATP Tour.
The second-seeded Spaniard reached his first quarterfinal since capturing his record ninth French Open title in June with a 6-3, 6-4 win over German qualifier Peter Gojowczyk at the China Open in Beijing yesterday, then blasted the choice of tennis balls at the tournament.
“The ball is so bad here,” Nadal said. “If you throw the ball on the floor, the bounce goes everywhere. Is not a question of winning or losing. I won in Rio (earlier this year) with this ball.
“It’s just that we’re competing at the top level of our sport, tennis, and the ball is an important thing.”
This isn’t the first time the 14-time major winner has complained about the ball in question — manufactured by Head. He also criticized the decision to switch ball manufacturers from tournament to tournament, saying it could result in injuries.
Andy Murray echoed Nadal’s complaints about the difficulty of adjusting to a new ball each week.
“If you want to see consistently high level tennis, it’s very difficult when you’re changing balls from week to week — because they all react differently,” he said after his 6-2, 6-2 win over Uruguay’s Pablo Cuevas.
Nadal faces another qualifier in the quarterfinals, Martin Klizan, who advanced when seventh-seeded Ernests Gulbis of Latvia retired with a shoulder injury while trailing 6-2, 3-0.
Murray takes on US Open champion Marin Cilic, a 6-3, 6-3 winner over Portugal’s Joao Sousa.
In the women’s draw, top-ranked Serena Williams recovered from a second-set lapse to defeat Czech Lucie Safarova, 6-1, 1-6, 6-2.
Simona Halep of Romania won a back-and-forth match against Andrea Petkovic of Germany 7-6 (4), 5-7, 7-6 (1), then immediately withdrew from the tournament with a left hip injury.
The second-seeded Halep took a medical timeout for treatment on her hip after the first set, but returned to complete the match.
Halep’s withdrawal gave ninth-seeded Ana Ivanovic of Serbia a pass to the semifinals.
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