Clay court maestro Rafael Nadal swept to a 6-3, 6-1 victory over Juergen Melzer in the second round of the Madrid Open on Wednesday.
Nadal, chasing a sixth title of the season and a fourth on his best surface, was joined in the last 16 by Novak Djokovic, who beat Oscar Hernandez 6-3, 6-3.
The 27th-ranked Melzer failed to carve out any break points against world No. 1 Nadal, losing his own serve four times, and the Spaniard wrapped up the win on his first match point when the dispirited Austrian netted a limp forehand.
Nadal has only lost four times on clay in 152 matches since the beginning of 2005 and won three straight events on the surface at Monte Carlo, Barcelona and Rome before coming to the Spanish capital.
He begins his quest for a fifth straight French Open crown at the end of this month and will play unseeded German Philipp Kohlschreiber for a place in the quarter-finals.
Djokovic won a second title of the year in his native Belgrade at the weekend after losing in the final of the Masters events in Rome, Monte Carlo and Miami.
The Serbian third seed took a nasty tumble at the start of the second set, slipping on the clay in the new Magic Box Stadium and falling awkwardly. He recovered to break in the fifth and ninth games and sealed victory on his fourth match point when Hernandez went long with a sliced backhand.
Andreas Seppi is the Serb’s opponent for a place in the last eight after the Italian beat Sam Querrey of the US 6-3, 4-6, 6-4.
No. 6 seed Andy Roddick lost the first set to German qualifier Tommy Haas, but edged the second set tie-break and grabbed his only break of the match in the third before clinching a 1-6, 7-6, 6-4 victory with his ninth ace.
The American will play Russian Nikolay Davydenko in the third round.
In the women’s singles, world No. 1 Dinara Safina took a first step toward a second consecutive clay court title by battling to a 6-3, 7-6 victory over Li Na.
Russian Safina had to work hard to subdue the gutsy Chinese and set up a third-round clash with unseeded Czech Lucie Safarova.
Russians Elena Dementieva and Svetlana Kuznetsova were beaten in Madrid.
Third seed Dementieva slipped to a 1-6, 6-4, 6-2 third-round defeat by former world No. 1 Amelie Mauresmo and sixth-seeded Kuznetsova lost 6-3, 6-2 to Ukrainian Alona Bondarenko in the second round.
Frenchwoman Mauresmo was joined in the last eight by Switzerland’s Patty Schnyder, who ousted eighth seed Nadia Petrova 6-4, 6-7, 7-6.
Russian qualifier Vera Dushevina also reached the quarter-finals with a 6-3, 4-6, 6-2 win over Italy’s Francesca Schiavone.
Belarusian Victoria Azarenka, 19, chasing her fourth WTA Tour title of the year, beat Peng Shuai of China 6-4, 6-1 in the second round.
The seventh seed will play Hungarian Agnes Szavay for a place in the quarter-finals.
Taiwan kept their hopes of advancing to next year’s World Baseball Classic (WBC) alive with a 9-1 victory over South Africa in a qualifier at the Taipei Dome on Saturday, backed by solid pitching. Taiwan last night played against Nicaragua. As of press time, Nicaragua was leading 6-0. Bouncing back from Friday’s struggles on the mound, when Taiwanese pitchers surrendered 15 runs to Spain, Team Taiwan on Saturday kept the visiting team in check, allowing just one run in the bottom of the fourth inning. Starting pitcher Sha Tzu-chen struck out one and allowed no hits, except for a hit-by-pitch over
Taiwan kept its hopes of advancing to the 2026 World Baseball Classic (WBC) alive with a 9-1 victory over South Africa in a qualifier at the Taipei Dome last night, backed by solid pitching. Bouncing back from Friday’s struggles on the mound, when Taiwanese pitchers surrendered 15 runs to Spain, Team Taiwan kept the visiting team in check, allowing just one run in the bottom of the fourth inning. The win was crucial for Taiwan, as a loss would have eliminated the team from contention for the next WBC. Starting pitcher Sha Tzu-chen (沙子宸) struck out one and allowed no hits, except for
Team Taiwan are set to face Spain in a win-or-go-home match tonight for the final berth at the 2026 World Baseball Classic (WBC), despite losing to Nicaragua 6-0 in the WBC qualifier at the Taipei Dome on Sunday. The home team’s loss on Sunday means Nicaragua finish first in the qualifier round in Taipei with a perfect 3-0 record and advances to next year’s finals. After crushing South Africa 9-1 earlier on Sunday, Spain took second place in the four-team qualifier with a 2-1 record. With a 1-2 record, Taiwan finished third while South Africa placed at the bottom with
Team Taiwan avoided missing the World Baseball Classic (WBC) for the first time by defeating Spain 6-3 in a do-or-die game in Taipei last night. After narrowly escaping a mercy-rule loss to Spain in the WBC Qualifiers opener on Friday last week, the home team — winner of last year's WBSC Premier12 title three months ago — got their revenge against the 2023 European champions at Taipei Dome. "It felt quite different from when we won the Premier12," Taiwan captain Chen Chieh-hsien (陳傑憲) said after the game, recalling the ups and downs the team has experienced over the past few days. Unlike in
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