LONDON, 16 June 2006 — Rafael Nadal survived a scare from fellow Spaniard Fernando Verdasco yesterday to set up an intriguing quarterfinal against Australian Lleyton Hewitt in the Stella Artois Championships.
The French Open champion passed his first big grasscourt test in preparation for Wimbledon in a three-hour 2-6, 7-6, 7-6 victory over Verdasco in the third round.
Hewitt lost in four sets to Nadal in the fourth round at Roland Garros but on grass the 2002 Wimbledon champion will be a different proposition.
Nadal, who beat world number one Roger Federer in Paris on Sunday to win the claycourt grand slam for the second year in a row, was close to defeat against Verdasco.
After failing to come to terms with the slick grass at Queen’s Club in the first set, the 20-year-old had to serve to stay in the match in the second before taking the tiebreak 7-3.
Verdasco, ranked 30 in the world, needed treatment on his back and thigh before the third set started but would not wilt. Eventually, though, Nadal’s superior fitness told and he won the tiebreak 7-3 to take victory on his third match point. Hewitt recovered from a difficult start to earn a 4-6 6-1 7-6 victory over tall Belarussian Max Mirnyi. Three-time former Queen’s Club winner Hewitt controlled the third set tiebreak, taking it 7-4 on his first match point. Briton Tim Henman strolled into the quarterfinals with a 6-3, 6-4 victory over France’s Nicolas Mahut.
Australian Mark Philippoussis, the 1997 champion, was knocked out 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 by Chilean Fernando Gonzalez.
Federer Marches Closer to Borg’s Record
In Halle, Germany, world No. 1 Roger Federer was made to work hard before he edged out France’s Richard Gasquet 7-6, 6-7, 6-4 to reach the quarterfinals of the Halle International yesterday.
The three-time champion, unbeaten on grass since losing in the first round at Wimbledon in 2002, chalked up his 38th consecutive win on the turf.
The Swiss could next face Russia’s Marat Safin in a repeat of last year’s final if the Russian overcomes seventh seed Olivier Rochus.
Fifth seed Tomas Berdych was also pushed before he won the all-Czech battle with a 6-3, 6-7 7-5 victory over Jiri Novak.
Sharapova Keeps Treble Bid on Track
In Birmingham, England, Maria Sharapova swept China’s Li Na aside in straight sets to keep her bid for a third straight victory at the DFS Classic firmly on track.
The Russian star cruised into the quarterfinals with a 6-2, 6-4 win and will now face 12th seed Mara Santangelo, who accounted for 5th seed Ai Sugiyami.
Unseeded Jamea Jackson had earlier caused the shock of the tournament, enduring an epic, rollercoaster encounter before defeating last year’s beaten finalist Jelena Jankovic 6-4, 0-6, 7-5. Second seed Francesca Schiavone was forced to come from a set down against unseeded Bulgarian Tsvetana Pironkova before clinching her place in the last eight.
The world No. 14 from Italy looked in trouble after losing the first set 3-6 and having break points against her in the fourth game of the second, only to survive and rally by taking the last two sets 6-3, 6-1.
Sugiyami, a Wimbledon quarterfinalist in 2004, lost 7-6 (7-4) 6-4 to Santangelo, while Anna Chakvetadze, the seventh seed, lost to Russian compatriot Vera Zvonareva 6-4, 6-3.
No. 6 seed Marion Bartoli endured a two-hour-and-12-minute marathon in her third-round match before finally overcoming Ayumi Morita of Japan 6-4, 5-7, 6-2.
Bartoli, a former US Open junior champion who captured her first WTA Tour title in Auckland in January, needed three match points in a final game that mirrored an ebb-and-flow tie before beating 16-year-old Morita.
