(AP) Rafael Nadal moved into the quarterfinals of the China Open with a 7-6 (3), 6-4 victory over Canada’s Vasek Pospisil on Wednesday.
The third-seeded Spaniard picked up his game considerably after his first-round victory over the 230th-ranked Chinese wild card Di Wu, during which he was broken four times.
Against Pospisil, Rafa faced only one break point — and he saved it.
Rafael Nadal of Spain returns a shot against Vasek Pospisil of Canada during the Men’s singles Second round match on day five of the 2015 China Open at the China National Tennis Centre on October 7, 2015 in Beijing, China. (Oct. 6, 2015 – Source: Lintao Zhang/Getty Images AsiaPac)
Rafael Nadal of Spain returns a shot against Vasek Pospisil of Canada during the Men’s singles Second round match on day five of the 2015 China Open at the China National Tennis Centre on October 7, 2015 in Beijing, China. (Oct. 6, 2015 – Source: Lintao Zhang/Getty Images AsiaPac)
Rafael Nadal of Spain plays a forehand in his match against Vasek Pospisil of Canada on day 5 of the 2015 China Open at the National Tennis Centre on October 7, 2015 in Beijing, China. (Oct. 7, 2015 – Source: Chris Hyde/Getty Images AsiaPac)
General view of Rafael Nadal of Spain in his match against Vasek Pospisil of Canada on day 5 of the 2015 China Open at the National Tennis Centre on October 7, 2015 in Beijing, China. (Oct. 6, 2015 – Source: Chris Hyde/Getty Images AsiaPac)
Rafael Nadal of Spain returns a shot against Vasek Pospisil of Canada during the Men’s singles Second round match on day five of the 2015 China Open at the China National Tennis Centre on October 7, 2015 in Beijing, China. (Oct. 6, 2015 – Source: Lintao Zhang/Getty Images AsiaPac)
Rafael Nadal of Spain uses a towel at a break during his men’s singles match against Vasek Pospisil of Canada at the China Open tennis tournament in Beijing, China, October 7, 2015. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon
Rafael Nadal of Spain celebrates after winning his match against Vasek Pospisil of Canada during the Men’s singles Second round match against Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland on day five of the 2015 China Open at the China National Tennis Centre on October 7, 2015 in Beijing, China. (Oct. 6, 2015 – Source: Lintao Zhang/Getty Images AsiaPac)
Rafael Nadal of Spain gestures after defeating Wu Di of China in the first round men’s singles match of the China Open tennis tournament at the National Tennis Stadium in Beijing, Tuesday, Oct. 6, 2015. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)
Rafael Nadal of Spain celebrates after winning his match against Vasek Pospisil of Canada during the Men’s singles Second round match against Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland on day five of the 2015 China Open at the China National Tennis Centre on October 7, 2015 in Beijing, China. (Oct. 6, 2015 – Source: Lintao Zhang/Getty Images AsiaPac)
Rafael Nadal of Spain celebrates after winning his match against Vasek Pospisil of Canada during the Men’s singles Second round match against Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland on day five of the 2015 China Open at the China National Tennis Centre on October 7, 2015 in Beijing, China. (Oct. 6, 2015 – Source: Lintao Zhang/Getty Images AsiaPac)
Rafael Nadal (R) of Spain shakes hands with Vasek Pospisil of Canada after winning the Men’s singles Second round match against on day five of the 2015 China Open at the China National Tennis Centre on October 7, 2015 in Beijing, China. (Oct. 6, 2015 – Source: Lintao Zhang/Getty Images AsiaPac)
After the match, Rafa said:
Obviously I improved from yesterday. Every victory gives me opportunities to keep practising the things that I need to practise. Practising outside of the competition is very important, but at the end you have to compete well. Every match is an opportunity for me.
Source: Associated Press
so happy for you ,you , I am screaming from the roof tops for you ,, keep going keep trying new things and god bless youxxxx
So thrilled to see you winning dear Rafa !!!!!!!!!!!!! : ) : ) Enjoy everything & God bless you in Tennis & everything else important to you!!!!! : )
I’m so glad the positive statements outnumbered the negatives. I believe Uncle Toni and Rafa KNOW what they are doing. Let’s reserve judgment and see what happens with our favorite tennis player during the 2016 season!!! VAMOS RAFA!!!
We have a few Einsteins giving Rafael and Toni advice, let us just support rather than think that we can advise. To day was a better day, he was calm under pressure and hit some great shots. On the right road.
Elizabeth Howard: No need to be Einstein to figure out the Rafa’s problem nor anyone claimed to be Einstein. A bit of reality check doesn’t kill. Rafa is either physically healthy or not. If not he shouldn’t be playing to avoid more injuries. And if he is healthy as he himself claims, how on the earth repeating the same thing in all of his matches over and over again that has shown to no any good makes sense?
Rafa could have more than 20 GSs if he had a smart real coach. He won 14 GS by a brutal physical game and abusing his body while he could get the better results by playing smart. Roger, novak, andy Murray, wawrinka and many other players have good serves and there is no reason for Rafa to not have it. Rafa’s problem has started 3-4 years ago , losing to novak 7 damn times in the row. It took a year for him and his team to figure out how to beat novak for few times but Novak find a way to begin beating RAFA again and again.
You and the other FAN GANGS need to stop bashing the realistic fans. You are delusional fans and we are realistic fans. We all love to see Rafa raising GS and master trophies and be happy but the way he is playing without bringing any change or improvement won’t him take anywhere but defeat and heartache.
CHANGE. THAT IS THE OPERATIVE WORD.
I was pleased to see Rafa playing with a little bit of his old self. It is a pleasure
To watch. I wish you well in the Asian tour
Rafa played much much better than yesterday! Happy for him. Take rest and all the best for the match against Sock.
Vamos Rafa <3 <3 <3
VAMOS DEAR RAFA!!!!!!!! : ) : ) Congratulations on your beautiful 2 fantastic wins & making the China Open Quarterfinals!!!!!! : ) : ) VERY NICE…….VAMOS sweetheart!!!!!! It was a GREAT victory & a fun match!!!!! Your success moving forward is special…..& your hard practices are yielding great WINNING RESULTS!!!!! Very happy for you & your team!!!! One win at a time…….humble & powerful ……God bless you!!!!! Lots of love & happiness to you & your amazing coaching group!!!!! I love seeing your great serve dear Rafa…..well aimed ….well timed….. so strong & relevant!!!!! You are such a precious competitor!!!! Your Tennis know how is amazing & a pleasure to watch……& throughout the match, it was very clear you are the better player!!!! You have the endurance, the focus, the seasoned experience & the passion & determination!!!!! That is why all your fans world wide LOVE & adore watching your matches!!!! KUDOS!!!!! Your clam, calculating creative way of playing is winning you matches!!!! You followed your gut & your tennis instinct & you got it right!!!!!! This guy played w 10 ACES & you won!!!!!! : ) That is your steadfast competitive edge & heart of a remarkable Champion!!!! Great to see you so incredibly focused & measured moving forward a point at a time!!!! God bless you dear Rafa …. your Tennis is fantastic!!!!!!!!!!! : ) VAMOS ….. VAMOS…. & VAMOS!!!!!! Enjoy your amazing efforts & have lots of fun celebrating w uncle Toni & everyone !!!!!!!!!! VAMOS!!!!!!! : )
Vamos Rafa!
just go match by match…. was so happy to see a higher percentage of ur shots was beyond that service box area ….just do consistently and soon no one can stop u
vamos rafa
bst luck
A win is a win I guess. However, Rafa is not going to have it his way against any top 10 player (other than on clay) with this game of waiting for opponents to make an error. Rafa won 2 HUGE points today when pospisil just dumped short mid court balls into the net at break point in 1st set and to get broken in 2nd set. The only winner Rafa even tries these days is the inside out FH. He is not even opening the court up with his inside in FH cross court before going for the inside out FH. Hence opponents cover this shot forcing Rafa to red line with this inside out FH and miss the sideline or dump in net. Down the line BH is just non existent. I remember just one down the line BH he sort of played in the last game of the match today. Lesser said about his second serve return the better. He may as well sit on the linesman’s chair. He is that far behind. No wonder his balls land short and weak. Also opens up the angled slice serve which pospisil repeatedly hit so easily. Rafa’s court positioning like many have posted here before is so far back. Gives his opponents all kids of time to prepare for whatever he hits (which land short most of the time). At this point I really dont know if this is a coaching thing or if Rafa just is not able to get back his game. Tony should be able to catch all this for sure. If it is Rafa’s mind, he really needs a different voice to get his thinking right so his body can respond. His serves looked better though today. But can’t tell much since Posposil seemed like he had no clue against the leftie spin on the serve. He was shanking so many returns. All in all, much better performance than round 1, but that is nothing to be elated about I guess. Good luck against Sock. Hope his performance stays on this curve.. UP.. Should be interesting.
I totally agree: why in heaven’s name he stays so much to the back, especially on second serves? Does Toni know this? If he doesn’t, does Rafa read these posts to give him a CLUE? I am a Rafa fan but this is getting tiring. He MAY have a chance against Sock but not against top players, including Nishikori and Wawrinka.
Come on Rafa, get a clue!!
Agree. It is very strange for any coach not to see that. We fans can clearly see and analyze Rafa’s game and point out the problems. How on the earth uncle Toni and Rafa himself are not able to figure out or find a solution? I am puzzled. I mean come on you don’t need to be Einstein to figure it out.
He’s just not confident or comfortable doing that at this point of time. Rafa ever said that in order for him to play with aggression (like the way he played in 2013 at Canada/Cincy) he has to feel confident. I doubt he’s confident at the moment.
Too much successes on clay has brought him to this, ie playing too far back from the baseline. Rafa wasnt playing like this before all his clay successes, just watch his HC matches during 2004 and early 2005. He was much more aggressive back then but all those changed when he started his successes on clay.
I feel he’s still unwilling to give up a winning formula on clay but 2014/2015 have shown us that even on clay his game is no longer all that conquering. He has good hands at the net yet he refuses to move more to the net. Its obvious now that his opponents no longer fear his baseline game so its time he makes changes to the way he plays. If Fed can, Rafa can too, its a matter of willingness to try new things or new strategies.