MASON - August 17, 2006 - Rafael Nadal kept his hopes of a third ATP Masters Series shield in 2006 alive by defeating No.14 seed Tommy Haas 7-6(5), 6-3 Thursday at the Western & Southern Financial Group Masters, while Andy Murray continued to roll through the draw, as he outlasted No.15 seed Robby Ginepri in a 2-hour thriller.
In the tightly contested Round of 16 match, Nadal broke Haas’ serve at love to lead the second set 5-3. Nadal went on to hold serve in the next game to earn his first appearance in the Cincinnati quarterfinals.
"I played a good match," said Nadal. "I felt comfortable on court. I am happy because I was beginning the match very well. I was playing my best tennis in the first games."
Nadal, 20, has five titles this year and improves his record to 48-6. Second seed Nadal, who will be gunning for his second hard court title this season (Dubai), next faces fellow Spaniard Juan Carlos Ferrero. Nadal will try to keep his perfect record (4-0) against Ferrero when they face off.
Ferrero, a 2002 Cincinnati semifinalist, downed Swede Robin Soderling 7-5, 6-4. Ferrero fired 10 aces and won 87 percent of his first service points. The former World No.1 has reached his first quarterfinal on hard courts this season and will look to make his second semifinal.
In the Ginepri-Murray tie, the American looked to have the first set in the bag before a challenge by Murray resulted in an overturned call. Murray capitalized on the opportunity, coming back from 15-40, to hold serve and even the set at 5-all. The 19-year-old Scottish star went on to win the opening set in a tie-break, and then the match 7-6(3), 2-6, 6-4.
"I think you just have to keep fighting, and when you get to 4-all in the third set, regardless of how tired you are, you see the finishing line," said Murray. "If you do a marathon and you see that there's one mile to go, you can push yourself to finish it. But if you're starting to get tired, you know, after one, two miles, then, you know, mentally it's pretty difficult, but you can push yourself to finish it."
In the previous round, Murray pulled off the surprise of the tournament by downing defending champion and World No.1 Roger Federer. Murray, who was playing his 13th match in 16 days, advances to the quarterfinal where he will play either No.9 seed Andy Murray or Juan Ignacio Chela of Argentina.
Fourth seed Ivan Ljubicic was the first to book a spot in the quarterfinals by ousting Dominik Hrbaty 7-5, 6-4 in 1 hour, 45 minutes. Ljubicic, who had lost the last two match ups with Hrbaty, now improves his record to 6-2 against the Slovak.
“I have to say that Dominik (Hrbaty) really improved a lot in the last two years,” said Ljubicic. “I had a 5-0 record against him before the Davis Cup final last year, and I lost that in five. And then I lost in Rome again this year (to Hrbaty). Today again was really difficult.”
Ljubicic blasted 10 aces and won four of five break points. Ljubicic, whose best result in Cincinnati came in 2001 when he reached the quarterfinals, next plays No.7 seed Tommy Robredo, who dropped only four games to Florent Serra in their third round match.
Fernando Gonzalez, the No.13 seed, also advanced to the quarterfinals. He edged Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland 7-6(2), 7-5 after almost two hours of play. The Chilean awaits the winner of No.8 seed Marcos Baghdatis and No.10 seed David Ferrer.
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