In his first event since the French Open win, Nadal beats Petzschner in 69 minutes to make Montreal quarters
In his first event since the French Open win, Nadal beats Petzschner in 69 minutes to make Montreal quartersRafael Nadal eased his mind with a second victory in 24 hours as his return to tennis after a knee injury gained traction through a 6-3, 6-2 defeat of German Philipp Petzschner to reach the Montreal Masters quarter-finals.
It was all but effortless for the world number two, who last played on May 31 prior. Nadal went through in just over an hour, website earthtimes.com reported.
"I said before the tournament that my goal here is only try to improve every day," said the four-time French Open winner. "I think that's what I'm doing. I'm very happy to be in the quarter-finals, it's more than I expected when I came here.
Ready for the next one"So with one match and a half (David Ferrer retired after 37 minutes in their first round), I expect to be ready for tomorrow."
Nadal will face off Friday for a semi-final place against Argentine Juan Del Potro after the sixth seed rallied past Romanian Victor Hanescu 3-6, 6-3, 6-4.
Number three Andy Murray continued to push towards a shot at replacing Nadal at second in the world as the Scot manhandled Spanish veteran Juan Carlos Ferrero 6-1, 6-3.
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Murray completed a summer victory hat-trick 6-1, 6-3 over the 29- year-old after winning their June matches at Queen's and Wimbledon.
Murray must reach the semi-finals and hope Nadal does not do the same in the race to become the new number two.
"It was a really tough start, those first three or four games lasted about half an hour. Once I got the second break in the first set I started to feel a lot more comfortable," said Murray.
"I played better and better as the match went on. If you can get a good start in all your matches it's going to make a big difference to whether you win or lose."
2007 champion Novak Djokovic, the number four, beat Russian Mikhail Youzhny 6-3, 6-4, while last weekend's sixth-seeded Washington winner Juan Del Potro rallied past Romanian Victor Hanescu 3-6, 6-3, 6-4.
Two-time Canadian champion Andy Roddick hung tough in a final-set tiebreaker to outlast Fernando Verdasco 7-6 (7- 2), 4-6, 7-6 (7-5).
The American fifth seed has now played the quarters or better at his last five events dating to Queen's club on grass in early June. Roddick was out-aced by Spain's Verdasco 13 to 12 in a struggle lasting more than two and a half hours.
