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Big guns book quarter-final places
Beijing, 16 September 2005 - Rafael Nadal and Guillermo Coria wrapped up rain-delayed business from 24 hours earlier, with both seeds advancing to the quarter-finals of the China Open on Friday.
Success on court at the Beijing Tennis Centre means more work for the pair, with top seed Nadal hoping for a quick recovery after struggling for two hours, 31 minutes to subdue American Justin Gimelstob 5-7, 6-4, 6-4 in the second round.
The teenage French Open champion struck 29 winners to easily overcome Gimelstob’s 10 aces. But Nadal’s losing first-set effort took 63 minutes – 10 more than it took Argentine second seed Coria to sweep Japanese lucky loser Toshihide Matsui 6-1, 6-0.
“It was a delight to see the hard-hitting young Spaniard come back from a set down and advance to the quarter finals,” said tournament director Ekkehard Rathgeber, who is also Chief Operating Officer of TOM Group Limited, an associate of Hutchison Whampoa Limited.
“He struggled early on in the match, but showed real fighting spirit to win through. His win also means that all seven remaining seeds, after 5th seed Dominik Hrbaty withdrew with injury, are through to the quarter finals,” Rathgeber added.
Both Nadal and Coria were to have played on Thursday before wet weather wiped out the day’s entire programme. They now face quarter finals later on Friday with their intended opponents also playing and winning on a partly cloudy day.
Nadal, competing for the first time in China, will take on Peter Wessels, the Dutch world No. 115 who ended the week’s final Chinese challenge with a 6-1, 7-6
(11-9) defeat of Wang Yu Jr.
Coria, who owns only one title this season (Sopot), had claimed his 50th win of the season after defeating Zeng Shao Xuan in the first round on Monday.
Seventh-seeded 2004 finalist Mikhail Youzhny, beaten for last year’s inaugural title by fellow Russian Marat Safin, stopped Thai Danai Udomchoke 7-5, 6-1 to move into a match-up against Coria.
Nadal found himself in a battle with the 95th-ranked Gimelstob, who took treatment on his left heel midway through the first game of the second set winning the marathon first set on his fifth opportunity.
After treatment, the heel problem appeared to go away, along with the American’s upset chances as Nadal battled his way to victory.
Gimelstob had been bidding for his second quarter-final of a modest season where he now stands 7-7, five of his wins coming on hard courts.
Nadal, holder of nine titles earned this season, improved to 69-10.
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Released on behalf of TOM Group and the China Open by Two Up Front - Asia’s sports PR specialists.