ATP Tour - Nadal battles back to beat Gulbis

Eurosport - Wed, 15 Oct 17:46:00 2008

Rafael Nadal thrilled a sold-out home crowd with a comeback performance to win his 78th match of the season as he began the chase for a second title at the Madrid Masters.

TENNIS Rafa Nadal Masters Series Madrid 2008 / Foto EFE - 0

The top-seeded world number one who claimed his only trophy in the capital in 2005, rallied past upcoming Latvian Ernests Gulbis 7-5 3-6 6-3 riding a late break in the final set to victory.

Nadal, holder of eight titles this season including Paris, Wimbledon and the Olympics, has stalled in the quarter-final at the last two Madrid editions.

He was playing for the first time since leading Spain into the Davis Cup final against Argentina three weeks ago.

The Spanish hero failed to convert on his first match point against the 20-year-old Gulbis, but reached the third round on his second opportunity.

"It was a very tough match and and important one to win," said the relieved Nadal. "Gulbis is young with a great future ahead of him. "He fought back well in the second set, winning the important games. I pulled out my best game when I had to.

"It was tough to attack him, and this was my first match in a few weeks to I have things to improve."

Nadal will play on Thursday against French 15th seed Richard Gasquet, a winner over Mardy Fish 6-7 (3) 6-4 6-3.

American James Blake maintained his dismal, winless record in Madrid with the frustrated 11th seed crashing out to on-form Frenchman Gilles Simon 3-6 6-1 6-4.

Simon, winner of two titles since July, pounced on 46 unforced errors to hand Blake his fifth loss in the Spanish capital and put the American in grave danger of dropping in the race for the season-ending Masters Cup in Shanghai.

Blake had little to offer after losing in every one of his Madrid appearances dating to 2002.

The Olympic bronze medallist, ninth in the race for the November season wrap-up, did his cause little good as he failed on nine of ten opportunities to break Simon.

The 16th-ranked Simon is riding a wave of form after winning Indianapolis and Bucharest in recent months.

Blake had not set foot on court since a third-round US Open loss, skipping the losing Davis Cup tie in Madrid last month against Spain for personal reasons.

His potential for a spot in Shanghai is endangered if Swiss Stan Wawrinka can do well this week while standing tenth in the points race one spot behind the fading Blake.

In first-round matches, Germany's Philip Kohlschreiber stopped Spanish hero Carlos Moya 6-2 6-2 while Marcel Granollers of Spain beat Frenchman Paul-Henri Mathieu 6-4 6-4.

Weekend Vienna finalist Gael Monfils continued his indoor success as he beat Italian wild card Fabio Fognini 6-2 6-4. Stockholm semi-finalist Jarkko Nieminen reversed a run of three losses against Mikhail Youzhny, ousting the Russian 7-5 3-6 6-2.

American Robby Ginepri, semi-finalist in 2005, beat Frenchman Michael Llodra 6-4 6-4, with Swede Robin Soderling adding another French loss with his defeat of Florent Serra 6-3 6-4.

AFP

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  1. nice my friend! rub it in, why dontcha?
    just joking.­
    have fun like only a tennis fan can! - see it even­ rhymes :))
    tc

    From Helen H, on Thu 16 Oct 11:15AM

  2. Hi Helen,

    Gonna make you even more envious by telling­ you that I was in the stadium on Monday to see Gilles­ Simon shading it against Andreev and then Rafa teaming­ up with Moya to take out Blake and Fish. Got tickets­ for the day session on Friday, so I'm gonna see 2­ of the quarter-final matches. Am I looking forward to­ it? Am I what? Cheers

    From rhymes450, on Wed 15 Oct 11:09PM

  3. have i mentioned i love gasquet's backhand? :)
    oh­ how i envy you for being able to see the tournament!­ i'm at work most of the time and i'm not sure­ any channels here are broadcasting it.
    tc

    From Helen H, on Wed 15 Oct 10:38PM

  4. Hi Ralph/Helen. For sure Rafa had to dig in. The way he­ held serve in the 3rd game of the final set was the­ highlight of the match for me. Gulbis is great to watch­ but I'm not sure that he can play that kind of @#$%­ or bust tennis and string together enough victories to­ win an ATP event. Mind you, against 90% of players, he­ wouldn't need to take the risks he took against­ Rafa. Definitely a guy worth keeping an eye on.­ Alison's right. Gasquet is a great talent and he­ has more control and experience than Gulbis. He's­ 0-5 against Rafa, but it should be a hell of a match.­ Cheers

    From rhymes450, on Wed 15 Oct 10:18PM

  5. i've had my eye on the Latvian for a while now!­ glad to see others concur!
    and yeah, ralph, if only­ gulbis made some improvement in the concentration­ department, he'd start winning some serious matches­ and titles.
    take care

    From Helen H, on Wed 15 Oct 10:01PM

  6. lucky rafa last night would have only required a bit­ more focus and concentration for gulbis to win

    From ralph, on Wed 15 Oct 3:37PM

  7. YES HAVE TO AGREE WITH SOME OF THESE COMMENTS GULBIS IS­ UP AND COMING YOUNG PLAYER I WATCHED THE MATCH LAST­ NIGHT AGAINST RAFA HE MADE RAFA SWEAT A BIT BY TAKING­ FIRST SET.RAFA PLAYS RICHARD NEXT HE IS MY FAVOURITE ON­ THE MEN'S TOUR SO SO TALENTED HOPE HE CAN PLAY WELL­ AGAINST RAFA.
    ALSO JAMES BLAKE DIDN'T WIN BRONZE AT­ OLYMPICS NOVAK DJOKOVIC DID SO ANA IS RIGHT.
    ALISON­ MERRIT.

    From AJ, on Wed 15 Oct 12:25PM

  8. Gulbis has great potential. But he needs to figure out­ how to win these matches. He was up a set and a break­ against Roddick at the US Open serving for the 2nd set,­ then lost it.

    Looks like Blake doesn't need to­ bother booking airline tickets to Shanghai. Million­ dollar talent, 10 cent brain.

    From Mark S, on Wed 15 Oct 11:57AM

  9. Gulbis what a future star, love his style of play - all­ round tennis player. Can't wait to see him­ progress up the ranking. Very soon he will be­ challenging Novak, andy, and if he didn't make some­ many errors yesterday he would have beaten Nadal. He­ outplayed Nadal for most of the match. A star is born­ with a great style of tennis!!

    From Isabelle T, on Wed 15 Oct 11:18AM

  10. doubt it!

    From doubt.it.man, on Wed 15 Oct 11:10AM

  11. rafa is assured number 1 spot until at least Oz Open­ no matter what happens. Blake bronze medallist, rofl.

    From aleksicn93, on Wed 15 Oct 8:51AM

  12. Gubis is one of most upcoming youngstars in the atp­ tour, check this guy out next season the you guys will­ remember oscargbo for what he said, i have a great­ respect for Gubis cos the same way i've followed­ Nadal when he was coming same way i have started with­ Gubis and in a short while his name will be every­ where. well don Gubis but above all­ vaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaamooooooooooooooooooooooos Nadal

    From monday, on Wed 15 Oct 1:38AM

  13. Nadal had to fight against one of the more promising­ players of the season! I liked the way Gulbis played as­ he didint showed himself afraid of Nadal, firing aces­ and mighty groundstrokes.
    Next up is Gasquet, it­ should be a great match!

    VAAAMOOOOOOOOOS RAFA if he­ wins Madrid he almost assure the #1 spot

    From tiagomarcelino, on Wed 15 Oct 12:26AM

  14. Just a "small" correction, Blake didn't­ win bronze in Beijing, Djokovic did. Real­ professionalism in writing these articles....

    From Ana D, on Wed 15 Oct 12:08AM
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