Sports
Nadal untroubled in passage to quarters
Nadal untroubled in passage to quarters
Rafael Nadal en route to a 6-1, 6-1 hammering of French qualifier Pierre-Hugues Herbert in Basel yesterday. (AFP)
DPA/Basel, Switzerland
Rafael Nadal made up for a decade of lost time yesterday day as the Spaniard hammered out a 6-1, 6-1 defeat of French qualifier Pierre-Hugues Herbert to reach the quarter-finals of the Swiss Indoors for the first time.
Nadal, third in the world, came back to play in Basel after last competing in 2004, where he lost for a second time.
But the 28-year-old’s record at the event now stands a respectable 2-2 after he pounded out a second-round victory in less than an hour.
Nadal jumped on 11 double-faults from the 120th-ranked Herbert to get the easy win, facing his only break points in the one-way match.
Top seed Roger Federer will start the quest for his sixth hometown title, having played in the last eight finals, taking on Gilles Muller of Luxembourg.
Swiss Stan Wawrinka, seeded third, was stunned yesterday by Kazak Mikhail Kukushkin, in a blow to the second half of Switzerland’s Davis Cup finals team which faces France in a month.
Federer has won 51 matches in Basel while losing nine. If he keeps up his momentum, the 33-year-old has the chance to take year-end number one honours from new father Novak Djokovic, whose son Stefan was born this week in Monte Carlo.
Belgian seventh seed David Goffin reached the quarter-finals alongside Nadal, beating Croatian Ivan Dodig 7-6 (7-0), 6-4. In the first round, Denis Istomin advanced past Poland’s Jerzy Janowicz 6-1, 6-1.
Nadal will wait for an opponent from talented Croatian teenager Borna Coric and Andrey Golubev. Coric, 17, beat sixth seed Ernests Gulbis 7-6 (7-2), 6-3; Golubev defeated Teimuraz Gabashvili 6-3, 6-3.
Nadal remained on an antibiotic regime, with doctors telling him he has to take time off soon to have his appendix removed.
The medical necessity could well interfere with plans to play either in next week’s Paris Masters or the year-end finals in London from November 9.
Federer owns five titles at the St Jakobshalle venue, where he has played the last eight Basel finals after beginning as a ballboy two decades ago.
“I’m in total concentration mode for this tournament,” he said.
“The switch back was easy. After training on the clay, I will have fresher memories of it for the Davis Cup final (against France next month) than I would have from the French Open several months ago.
“Basel has changed a lot for me over the years. I really wanted to do well here when I was younger.
“I’ve never played poorly here, I’ve always played my level or better. Now I just take it as a normal tournament. But I’m driving my own car and meeting family and friends. It has a bit of a different twist.”