Nadal made to sweat by Nishioka, Djokovic has it easy

Thursday, 9 January 2020 01:31 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

SYDNEY (Reuters): World number one Rafa Nadal won a battle of attrition against fellow left-hander Yoshihito Nishioka of Japan 7-6(4) 6-4 to seal Spain’s spot in the final eight of the inaugural ATP Cup in Perth on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, his long-time rival, world number two Novak Djokovic, had an easier outing in Brisbane, strolling past Chile’s Cristian Garin 6-3 6-3 to stay undefeated in the new year and to ensure Serbia will travel to Sydney for the knockouts having won all three of their ties.

Nadal had to twice fight back from a break down against the Japanese world number 72 in the opening set before winning the tiebreaker while the Spaniard broke his opponent’s serve to go up 5-4 in the second before holding serve for victory.

“It’s the first day I was playing under such heavy conditions, two previous days I had played in the night. The feeling on court was completely different,” Nadal said in an on-court interview.

“I played against an opponent who started the season on fire, winning two matches against two great players with very comfortable results. Today was a very, very tough one.”

It was Nadal’s third singles win in the $15 million ATP Cup, which features 24 nations competing in Perth, Brisbane and Sydney over 10 days. All six group winners and the two best second-placed teams will advance to the final eight stage in Sydney. Besides hosts Australia, Serbia, Britain, Russia and Spain have qualified.

Garin broke Djokovic in the second set to go up 3-1 but it seemed to bruise the seven-times Australian Open winner’s ego as he won the next five games to complete victory.

“Sydney’s got a big Serbian community, hopefully the support can be as good as it was here, even better,” Djokovic said.

Poland’s Hubert Hurkacz also picked up his third singles win of the tournament with an upset 3-6 6-4 7-6(5) win over world number four Dominic Thiem of Austria in Sydney.

It was the second loss in the new season for Thiem, who also lost to Croatia’s Borna Coric in his opening match.

Discover Kapruka, the leading online shopping platform in Sri Lanka, where you can conveniently send Gifts and Flowers to your loved ones for any event including Valentine ’s Day. Explore a wide range of popular Shopping Categories on Kapruka, including Toys, Groceries, Electronics, Birthday Cakes, Fruits, Chocolates, Flower Bouquets, Clothing, Watches, Lingerie, Gift Sets and Jewellery. Also if you’re interested in selling with Kapruka, Partner Central by Kapruka is the best solution to start with. Moreover, through Kapruka Global Shop, you can also enjoy the convenience of purchasing products from renowned platforms like Amazon and eBay and have them delivered to Sri Lanka.