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Another early exit for struggling Nadal
SHANGHAI: Fourth seed Rafa Nadal was stunned by Serb Viktor Troicki in an upset-filled Shanghai Masters second round on Wednesday while Andy Murray breezed past
SHANGHAI: Fourth seed Rafa Nadal was stunned by Serb Viktor Troicki in an upset-filled Shanghai Masters second round on Wednesday while Andy Murray breezed past American Steve Johnson.
Troicki, ranked 31st in the world, overcame Nadal 6-3, 7-6 (3) in an hour and 34 minutes to secure his first ever victory in five previous attempts against the 14-time Grand Slam winner.
The unseeded Serb broke twice to seal the opening set before Nadal came back strongly in the second. The Spaniard saved a match point at 5-4 down but was defeated in the tie-break.
“I played really well,” Troicki said. “I was aggressive, I served well, I hit the ball nice. It was a great feeling on the court playing like this... against Rafa Nadal, who is a great champion.”
Twice Shanghai Masters champion Murray, who claimed the China Open title last week, had no such trouble as he won 6-3, 6-2 as he won 70 per cent of second-serve return points.
The second-seeded Briton, who scraped through a testing encounter with Johnson at the Rio Olympics in August, also saved the one break point he faced in the first set. He will play Frenchman Lucas Pouille in the third round.
“I felt like I was creating a lot of chances on his serve. I thought I moved well for the first match in new conditions,” Murray told reporters.
“I was timing the ball well. I felt like I was controlling a lot of the rallies. Yeah, for a first match after playing pretty different conditions a few days ago, it was good.”
Seventh seed Tomas Berdych lost to Marcel Granollers of Spain 7-6(4), 7-6(1), while third seed Stan Wawrinka, the US Open Champion, beat Britain’s Kyle Edmund 6-3, 6-4 and Canada’s Vasek Pospisil battled past Grigor Dimitrov 7-5, 7-6(2). Fifth seed Milos Raonic had no trouble in dispatching Paolo Lorenzi 6-2, 6-4.
