By James Waterson
Photo Credit: GLYN KIRK/AFP/Getty Images
(June 27, 2011) World No. 1 Rafael Nadal advanced to his fifth Wimbledon quarterfinal after he narrowly defeated Argentina’s Juan Martin del Potro 7-6 (6), 3-6, 7-6 (4), 6-4 Monday.
Del Potro was always going to be a dangerous opponent for Nadal, despite coming back from being ranked close to No. 500 in February and not playing on the tour for most of 2010.
The Argentine has the height to not be troubled by Nadal’s spin, and the big-hitting baseline game to hit through the Spaniard on a faster surface.
It wasn’t a surprise, then, that the match was tightly contested throughout.
Although there were no break point chances for either man in the first set, Nadal won more of his receiving points and he had 21 winners, compared to del Potro’s 12.
Going into the tiebreaker, Nadal pulled up with what appeared to be an injury in the back of his right foot. After the match, he told the BBC that the pain was enough to make him consider retiring.
“I don’t know what the problem is,” Nadal said. “It seems as if it’s in the bone of the foot. I thought I might have to retire but I will check it out tomorrow. I felt something really strange, the pain went a bit down after that.”
When play resumed, he lost the first three points of the tiebreaker. But he came back and outperformed del Potro when it mattered, taking the pivotal first set after 80 minutes.
Del Potro earned the first break of the match in the second set, and served it out to level the
match.
The third set went to another tiebreaker, and some aggressive play gave Nadal the decisive advantage.
Midway through the fourth set, he earned his only break of the match, which was all he needed to close out the match.
Overall, Nadal had 61 winners to 16 unforced errors, 13 aces and 72 percent of his service points. Del Potro, who on paper is the more aggressive player, had 44 winners to 21 unforced errors, 11 aces, and he won 68 percent of his points on serve.
Nadal’s next opponent is 10th-seeded Mardy Fish, who beat Tomas Berdych in straight sets earlier in the day. If Nadal is healthy, he’ll like his chances because he has dropped only one set to the 29-year-old Fish in five of their previous matches.
Federer is now 11-0 against Youzhny, and with the win he has now reached his 29th consecutive Grand Slam quarterfinal.
"I forgot completely (the 29th quarterfinal) was on the line to be quite honest, especially once you're in the heat of the moment, of the battle," said Federer, who hit 54 winners, including 14 aces, to 25 unforced errors. "I thought I played a good match overall."
Federer goes on to play Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, who beat Spain’s David Ferrer 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 (1) Monday afternoon. He has a 4-1 record against Tsonga, and won both of their matches this year in straight sets.
They’ve never played on grass courts, but Federer, a six-time Wimbledon champion, may have a distinct advantage because of his familiarity with the court.