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| July 10, 2003 | Thursday | Jumadi-ul-Awwal 9,1424 |
Nadal powers into last 8
BASTAD, Sweden, July 9: Spanish 17-year-old Rafael Nadal reached the Swedish Open quarterfinals by demolishing compatriot Albert Portas 6-0 6-4 on Wednesday.
The youngster from Mallorca overpowered his 30-year-old opponent from the baseline and could do nothing wrong in the first set, hitting spectacular winners from both sides.
Portas raised his game in the second set and both players held serve up to 5-4 at which stage Nadal finally proved too strong for his rival and broke him to clinch the match.
In the last eight Nadal takes on Ecuador’s sixth seed Nicolas Lapentti, who defeated Romanian Adrian Voinea 6-4 7-6 in a close battle that lasted almost two hours.
After taking the first set Lapentti was broken and went 4-2 behind in the second but he managed to break back and then took the set to a tiebreak which he won on his first match point.
Second round results Mikhail Youzhny bt Franco Squillari 6-1 5-7 6-2; Mariano Zabaleta bt Bjorn Rehnquist 6-1 6-2; Nicolas Lapentti bt Adrian Voinea 6-4 7-6 (7-5); Rafael Nadal bt Albert Portas 6-0 6-4—Reuters
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