Nadal, Mónaco into semifinals of doubles

Top-seeded Cilic reaches quarters in Zagreb Indoors

tennis

Rafael Nadal’s knee held up for a third straight day, and if he keeps winning it will be getting double the workout over the weekend. The Spaniard teamed with Juan Mónaco to reach the doubles semifinals at the VTR Open with a victory over Guillaume Ruffin and Filippo Volandri.

VIÑA DEL MAR, Chile — Rafael Nadal and Juan Mónaco reached the semifinals of the doubles tournament at the VTR Open yesterday with a 6-2 7-6 (7-4) victory over Guillaume Ruffin and Filippo Volandri.

It was Nadal’s third match in three days after being away from the tour for just over seven months with an inflamed left ankle and a stomach virus.

Nadal faces fellow-Spaniard Daniel Gimeno-Traver in the singles quarterfinals today.

The former number one Nadal moved easily around the court, showing no signs his left knee was bothering him.

“He is worrying about his knees, he’s worried about his health. He’s worried about getting back to a good competitive level,” his spokesman Benito Pérez-Barbadillo said.

“He’s not worried in a negative way,” he added. “What he cares about is to be healthy and be ready to be competitive at every level he plays and to be at the same level as he was playing before.”

Nadal came to Chile wanting to get playing time as he tries to catch up to his top rivals Roger Federer, Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic again. If he keeps winning in singles and doubles, he will be playing two matches a day this weekend.

Nadal won his last of eight doubles titles last year with Mark López in Indian Wells. He has won 50 titles in singles.

In singles matches yesterday, Argentine Horacio Zeballos won 6-3 6-3 over Pablo Andújar of Spain, Albert Ramos of Spain beat Filippo Volandri of Italy 6-7 (5-7) 6-3 7-5, Daniel Gimeno Traver defeated fellow-Spaniard Albert Montañés 6-4 6-4 and another Spaniard, Tommy Robredo, lost 6-4 6-4 against Italy’s Paolo Lorenzi.

ZAGREB INDOORS. Top-seeded Marin Cilic of Croatia moved a step closer to a third title in his home event, beating Grega Zemlja of Slovenia 6-3 6-2 yesterday to reach the quarterfinals of the Zagreb Indoors.

Cilic won this tournament in 2009 and 2010 and improved his record at the event to 14-4. He hit 11 aces and broke his opponent three times to wrap up the win in one hour, six minutes.

“I am very pleased with the way I played,” Cilic said. “I felt he was nervous in the beginning and it helped me gain an early advantage.”

Cilic will face another Slovenian, Blaz Kavcic, who rallied to upset sixth-seeded Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus 3-6 7-6 (7-2) 6-4 and reach his third career quarterfinal.

Baghdatis, the 2007 champion, failed to serve out the match at 5-4 in the second set, and then pulled out of the doubles because of a foot injury.

Ivan Dodig also reached the quarterfinals by defeating fellow Croat Ivo Karlovic 7-6 (7-2) 6-7 (2-7) 6-3. Dodig wasted a match point at 5-4 in the second set, allowing Karlovic his only break.

Dodig will play defending champion Mikhail Youzhny today.

Fourth-seeded Jürgen Melzer of Austria also came from a set down to defeat Somdev Devvarman of India 1-6 7-6 (7-5) 6-2.

Robin Haase of the Netherlands defeated fifth-seeded Martin Klizan of Slovakia 6-2 4-6 6-4.

Also yesterday, Lukas Rosol of the Czech Republic ousted Italy’s Flavio Cipolla 6-4 2-6 6-3 and Philipp Petzchner of Germany beat Croatian wild card Dino Marcan 6-3 6-4.

OPEN SUD DE FRANCE. Frenchman Michael Llodrá had 13 aces and did not concede a break point as he beat second-seeded Janko Tipsarevic of Serbia 6-3 7-6 (7-4) yesterday to reach the Open Sud de France quarterfinals.

Fourth-seeded Gilles Simon had 12 aces as he also advanced to the last eight with a 7-6 (7-5) 6-2 win against qualifier Arnau Brugues-Davi.

Sergiy Stakhovsky also advanced by beating Tatsuma Ito of Japan 6-7 (4-7) 6-4 7-6 (7-3) and third-seeded Richard Gasquet will meet number six Julien Benneteau in another all-French match after coming back from an error-strewn second set to beat compatriot Gaël Monfils 6-3 2-6 6-3. Benneteau cruised into the quarterfinals, taking little over an hour to defeat Victor Hanescu of Romania 6-4 6-4.

AP