AFP/Stuttgart
Rafael Nadal moved into the position to become a dual-surface champion at the Stuttgart Open yesterday with his 6-3, 6-4 grass-court semi-final defeat of Gael Monfils.
Victory in less than 90 minutes on the newly laid grass courts of the pre-Wimbledon event paved a path for Nadal to lift his third title in Stuttgart after winning in 2005 and 2007 when the event was played on clay.
But in 2012, officials and orgnanisers at the Weissenhof club made the decision to work with the ATP to switch over to grass as part of an expanded three-week Wimbledon run-up which began this week.
Nadal owns two Wimbledon crowns and also won at Queen’s in his grass glory year of 2008.
The 29-year-old will be bidding for the 66th trophy of his career but only the second this season.
Nadal came through over Monfils on the first of two match-points as the French fourth seed sailed a forehand over the baseline.
Unable to find an ace in the contest, Nadal however made no double-faults and saved all four of the break points he faced as he beat Monfils for the 11th time in 13 meetings.
The win was effortless in contrast to the struggles Nadal went through in his first two matches this week, spending a combined five hours on court to win six sets.
“I’m very happy with this performance,” said the Spaniard after his win yesterday.
“I’m slowly improving on grass. It would be fantastic to win on grass here, but I can only focus on the final and try to play my best.”
The Spaniard overcame 11 aces from his fourth-seeded French opponent who makes no secret of his discomfort on grass. The victory took well under 90 minutes compared
to the two-and-a-half-hour marathons which he
needed to get through his first two matches of the season on grass.
Nadal will play for the 66th trophy of his career
today when he faces US Open champion and second seed Marin Cilic, who rallied after losing the first set to down Serbian eighth seed Viktor Troicki 4-6, 7-6(5), 7-6(5) in the other semi-final.
Nadal stand 3-3 in grass finals, also winning Queen’s in 2008, the same year he claimed his first Wimbledon crown in an epic win over Roger Federer.
Kokkinakis given Queen’s wild card
Australian teenager Thanasi Kokkinakis was given a wild card into the Wimbledon warm-up event at Queen’s Club yesterday.
Rising star Kokkinakis was granted the late entry into the west London grass-court tournament, which begins tomorrow, after Britain’s Kyle Edmund was forced to withdraw due to an abdominal injury.
The 19-year-old broke into the world’s top 100 recently and is now at a career-high 69 in the ATP Tour rankings.
Kokkinakis demonstrated his vast potential by reaching the second round of the Australian Open and the last 16 in Indian Wells earlier this year, while also winning his first challenger title in Bordeaux.
He joins a strong Queen’s Club line-up which contains eight of the world’s top 14 players, including Andy Murray, Rafael Nadal, Stan Wawrinka and Marin Cilic.
“Kyle desperately wanted to play, and we were looking forward to seeing him, but he hasn’t quite returned to full fitness in time to compete at this level. We wish him a full and speedy recovery,” tournament director Stephen Farrow said.
“At the same time, Thanasi has posted some impressive results this year, he’s an exciting prospect and this is a great opportunity to show what he can do.”
Kokkinakis will play French world number 37 Jeremy Chardy in the first round at Queen’s.
Rafael Nadal
