SHANGHAI: An ailing Rafa Nadal added his name to the list of upsets at the Shanghai Masters after the Spaniard suffered a 6-3, 7-6 (7-6) loss to Feliciano Lopez in Wednesday’s second round, as fourth seed Stan Wawrinka and in-form Kei Nishikori also made early exits.
Nadal has been diagnosed with appendicitis which will require surgery and while the world number two tried to play through the pain he was clearly not at his best against Lopez who fired 19 aces to overcome qualifier Thanasi Kokkinakis 6-7 (12-14), 6-3, 6-4 in the first round.
Australian Open champion Wawrinka, who fell at the first hurdle in Tokyo last week, suffered the same fate in China with a 5-7, 7-5, 6-4 defeat to Frenchman Gilles Simon.
American Jack Sock, who defeated Bernard Tomic of Australia 7-6 (7-4), 6-7 (4-7), 6-4 on Monday, produced another upset when he defeated Japan’s Nishikori 7-6 (7-5), 6-4.
It was the American’s first win over a top 10 opponent and brought Nishikori’s hot streak to an end. The Japanese came into the tournament after wins in Kuala Lumpur and Tokyo.
Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic moved into the third round of the Shanghai Masters with straight-set wins on Wednesday but Roger Federer needed a tie-breaker to prevail.
Federer survived a huge scare, saving five match points before overcoming Argentina’s Leonardo Mayer 7-5, 3-6, 7-6 (9-7).
Murray has been on a roll the last three weeks in China, winning nine of his last 10 matches as he tries to qualify for the ATP Finals in London next month.
Having overcome Russian Teymuraz Gabashvili 6-1, 7-5 in the first round on Tuesday, the Briton had an assured 7-5, 6-2 win over Jerzy Janowicz and will next meet fifth seed David Ferrer after the Spaniard battled past Slovak Martin Klizan 4-6, 7-6 (7-4), 6-4.
World number one Djokovic kicked off his title defence and extended his unbeaten streak in China to 26 straight matches with a straightforward 6-3, 6-4 win over Dominic Thiem.
Djokovic has been in scintillating form this year and won his fifth China Open title last Sunday, beating Czech Tomas Berdych 6-0, 6-2.
Sixth-seeded Berdych beat Richard Gasquet 6-3, 6-1. Frechman Gasquet beat compatriot Jeremy Chardy 7-6 (9-7), 6-2 in Monday’s opening round.
Julien Benneteau defeated 10th-seeded Grigor Dimitrov 7-5, 6-3. Dimitrov, a Wimbledon semi-finalist this year, had beaten Denis Istomin 6-3, 6-3 in the first round on Monday.
Mikhail Youzhny outlasted Ivan Dodig, 7-6 (9-7), 6-7 (4-7), 6-3 to follow his 6-4, 6-1 upset win over 12th seed Ernests Gulbis on Tuesday when Dodig was a 7-5, 6-2 winner over Pablo Cuevas.
World number 553 Chuhan Wang’s ATP World Tour debut was halted in another second round encounter when Malek Jaziri beat the Chinese wildcard, who had stunned 15th seed Fabio Fognini in the first round, 6-0 6-4.
Tunisian qualifier Jaziri reached the second round after a 7-5, 6-4 victory over Donald Young of the United States on Monday while Wang, who mainly plays in Challenger or Futures tournaments, had recorded a 7-6 (7-5), 6-4 first-round win over Italian Fognini on Tuesday.
Also on Tuesday, Ivo Karlovic, who upset US Open champion Marin Cilic in the first round, belted down 24 aces to beat Yen-Hsun Lu 7-6 (7-6), 6-3 and meets Berdych in the third round.
Karlovic had 20 aces and won 85 percent of points as he beat Cilic 7-5, 2-6, 7-6 (7-2) on Monday while Taiwan’s Lu had defeated Marcel Granollers of Spain 6-3, 6-7 (5-7), 6-2 in the first round.
Published in Dawn, October 9th, 2014
