China Open, Bejing China, ATP 500

[britbox]

Results from the China Open Men's Singles matches on Wednesday

Round 2
Alexander Zverev (Germany) beat Jack Sock (U.S.) 6-4 6-2
5-David Ferrer (Spain) beat Fabio Fognini (Italy) 6-3 6-4
Kyle Edmund (Britain) beat 7-Roberto Bautista (Spain) 6-4 4-6 6-4

Round 1
Grigor Dimitrov (Bulgaria) beat Steve Johnson (U.S.) 7-5 6-7(9) 6-4
Adrian Mannarino (France) beat Albert Ramos (Spain) 6-3 4-6 6-3
8-Richard Gasquet (France) beat Sam Querrey (U.S.) 2-6 6-3 6-2
Malek Jaziri (Tunisia) beat Guido Pella (Argentina) 6-4 6-4
Pablo Carreno (Spain) beat Bernard Tomic (Australia) 6-3 6-1

 

[JesuslookslikeBorg]

zed wasted the sock..broke him straight away.. winnable qf v ferrer.

 

[Moxie]

Carreño-Busta dusted Tomic. I thought that match could have gone either way, and was surprised.

 

[Moxie]

zed wasted the sock..broke him straight away.. winnable qf v ferrer.

Possibly, but the wiley veteran may have something to say. I think it will tell us something about Zverev.

 

[Moxie]

Pouille was having loads of trouble on his serve in the first set, but he has just too much game for little Dimi. I'll be surprised if this goes 3.

 

[britbox]

Results from the China Open Men's Singles Round 2 matches on Thursday

Grigor Dimitrov (Bulgaria) beat 6-Lucas Pouille (France) 6-7(3) 7-6(0) 6-4

 

[Carol]

Rafa needs to win this tournament very badly because last year he reached the finals and he needs the numbers.
I'd like he would have played vs Pouille but I will have to wait to next time...B-)

 

[Moxie]

Rafa needs to win this tournament very badly because last year he reached the finals and he needs the numbers.
I'd like he would have played vs Pouille but I will have to wait to next time...B-)

He played a great first set, but his serve and his level dropped off a lot in the second. But Dimitrov has never beaten him.

 

[Carol]

He played a great first set, but his serve and his level dropped off a lot in the second. But Dimitrov has never beaten him.

I saw the highlights of the match, he played very aggressive the first set, he slowed the rhythm in the second and his opponent played pretty well, the tie-break was very good played by both

 

[Moxie]

I saw the highlights of the match, he played very aggressive the first set, he slowed the rhythm in the second and his opponent played pretty well, the tie-break was very good played by both

I don't think the highlights tell whole story, if that was your takeaway. I watched the whole thing this morning. Mannarino was occasionally more aggressive in the 2nd, and it helped him, but Rafa's 1st serve percentage went way down, and the errors came in by a lot more. He's going to have to play more consistently better to win it all, especially if he gets to Murray.

 

[britbox]

Alexander Zverev (Germany) beat Jack Sock (U.S.) 6-4 6-2

 

[britbox]

Grigor Dimitrov (Bulgaria) beat 6-Lucas Pouille (France) 6-7(3) 7-6(0) 6-4

 

[britbox]

2-Rafa Nadal (Spain) beat Adrian Mannarino (France) 6-1 7-6(6)

 

[britbox]

 

[Billie]

Raonic and Jaziri are just playing their 2nd round match (Raonic leading 5:2 in the first), and Gasquet and Carreno Busta need to finish their match that was suspended yesterday because of rain at 7:5 2:4.

 

[Billie]

The quarters will be:

National Tennis stadium:

QF (1) Andy Murray VS (Q) Kyle Edmund

QF (11) Grigor Dimitrov VS (2) Rafael Nadal

Lotus Court:

Not Before 12:30 pm
QF Alexander Zverev VS (5) David Ferrer

Not Before 4:30 pm
QF (16) Richard Gasquet or Pablo Carreno Busta VS Malek Jaziri or Milos Raonic

 

[Moxie]

Well, that was woeful from Nadal. Serve was crap, and I can't tell you how many times he found the net.

 

[masterclass]

Dimitrov played well enough after being broken his first two service games.
Rafa couldn't hold serve to save his life...well, till 0-2 in the second set anyway.
Nadal's forehand was terrible. He couldn't find the court. Wide, long, and often hit the net weakly, and when it got over was often short.
In short, in his own words, "it was a disaster."

He should have shut it down after the US Open and started working on clay for next year as I mentioned in some other thread, and try to emulate his 2012-2013 preparation. Tried and proven.
But it isn't going to happen. He won't play on clay in South America either from what I heard..
His aura is almost completely gone. His fitness. A shadow of the great Clay Warrior.
But he has a ton of money and millions of adoring fans.

His next destination is apparently Shanghai.

Respectfully,
masterclass

 

[JesuslookslikeBorg]

wow..personally I was thinking a resurgent sir grigor might have a half decent shot of winning but I wasn't expecting it to be in straights. grigor looks to have got his orb back on track (not sure if an 'orb' can be on track ..maybe in the correct orbit?)..having reentered top20 rank last week,

I didn't see this match..but rafa sounded glum from the post match quotes i've seen.

 

[JesuslookslikeBorg]

andy vs Edmund blackadder was groovy. only saw 1sr set but was pretty decent to watch..

murray looking good and Edmund staying in the rallies ok, his cc fh is delpotro like. flat, fast, crisp n scary.