Federer and Nadal battle through

World’s top two advance at Qatar Open as Federer beats Marco Chiudinelli and Nadal downs Lukas Lacko despite love set.

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Federer continues to progress at the Qatar Open, by making the tournament’s quarter finals [AFP]

Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal both had to fight their way out of trouble before reaching the quarter-finals of the Qatar Open in Doha.

Federer needed to recover from 4-5 down in the first set tie-breaker on Wednesday and from a break of serve down at 1-4 in the second against compatriot Marco Chiudinelli, ranked only 117 in the world, before coming through 7-6 (7/5), 7-5.

World number one Nadal had to survive a tight first set and the loss of his first love set in nearly two years before overcoming the hitting of Lukas Lacko, the world number 83 from Slovakia, by 7-6 (7/3), 0-6, 6-3.

Both players were confronted with opponents who hit hard and flat and had little to lose, enabling them to attack the ball freely.

It was far from vintage Federer, though, and the 16-times grand slam champion appeared to be playing within himself for long periods against a player he had beaten on their only previous meeting.

Meanwhile, third seed Jo Wilfried Tsonga of France, making his comeback from injury, also moved into the quarter-finals with a 6-2 6-4 defeat of Ukraine’s Sergei Bubka.

But Federer and Nadal had reasons for being below par.

Unwell

Nadal has been feeling unwell for several days and spent much of one day resting, while Federer found it difficult to generate his usual intensity while playing against a compatriot and long-term friend.

Lacko often took the breath away with the way he hurtled around the court and hit the ball as though trying to puncture it.

Had he held on to his early break of serve at 2-1 or pushed through when he had Nadal at deuce at 5-5 later in the first set, much may have been different.

But Nadal focused fiercely at the start of the final set, ran hard, and played solid counter-attacking percentages, and was rewarded by a far higher ratio of errors from Lacko.

“It was a very difficult match,” he said.

“But I resisted. I just made up my mind to do my best in the final set. I came back but it was very tiring for me.”

Federer’s survival against Chiudinelli followed a knife-edge recovery in saving three successive set points in his opening encounter against Thomas Schoorel, the Dutch qualifier, before progressing similarly in two tight sets.

Next opponents

“Playing such a good friend is so rare for me,” Federer said.

“And seeing him maybe having an injury as well, and feeling bad for him, and hopeful that he’s not going to have another injury, was really difficult. We used to live walking distance from each other, and spent so much time together, and now all of a sudden we are playing together here in Qatar.”

Federer will next face Viktor Troicki, a member of the Serbian team, which won the Davis Cup in Belgrade last month and who reached the last eight with a 6-3, 6-1 win over Teimuraz Gabashvili of Russia.

Nadal’s next opponent is Ernests Gulbis, the Latvian who overwhelmed Antonio Veic, a Croatian qualifier, by 6-3, 6-1, and who will probably enjoy recalling memories of troubling Federer in a three-set quarter-final battle here last year.

Source: News Agencies