Nadal Denies Dimitrov In Basel, Federer Faces Kohlschreiber Thursday; Ferrer Withdraws From Valencia

by Staff | October 28th, 2015, 7:50 pm
  • 68 Comments

Rafael Nadal scored one of his better wins of late defeating Grigor Dimitrov in the second round at Basel today. The beleaguered former No. 1 had to really work for it, though.

Nadal found himself down a break in both the first and third sets. But he came back to take both to win both to win the match 6-4, 4-6, 6-3. And even in the last game Nadal struggled to serve out the match.

Nadal is now 7-0 against the Bulgarian. Since the US Open, Nadal is 10-2 with losses to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the Shanghai quarterfinals and Novak Djokovic in the Beijing final. He’ll await the Cilic-Gabishvili winner on Friday in the quarterfinals.


Dimitrov falls to 10-39 against Top 10 players. Ranked 28th, he’s also on the edge of falling out of the Top 30 with just one more event on the calendar. Dimitrov finished 2014 at No. 11.

Earlier, a trio of big men advance led by Ivo Karlovic who handed Swiss star Stan Wawrinka his fifth straight loss at his native event, beating the French Open champion 3-6, 7-6(2), 6-4 behind 21 aces.

Marin Cilic and Kevin Anderson were also winners along with David Goffin and Jack Sock.

Tomorrow, 6-time champion Roger Federer is in action against Philipp Kohlschreiber. Federer has never lost to his good friend in 10 meetings including a straight set win last month at the US Open.

John Iser meets Sock and also Richard Gasquet tries to keep his London hopes alive against Dominic Thiem.

Gasquet’s chances improved when David Ferrer withdrew from Valencia today with an elbow injury.

THURSDAY BASEL SCHEDULE
CENTRE COURT start 2:00 pm
[7] M. Cilic (CRO) vs T. Gabashvili (RUS)

Not Before 4:00 pm
J. Sock (USA) vs [6] J. Isner (USA)

Not Before 6:00 pm
[5] R. Gasquet (FRA) vs D. Thiem (AUT)

Not Before 8:00 pm
[1] R. Federer (SUI) vs P. Kohlschreiber (GER)
[3] J. Murray (GBR) / J. Peers (AUS) vs D. Nestor (CAN) / E. Roger-Vasselin (FRA)

COURT 2 start 2:00 pm
[4] K. Anderson (RSA) vs D. Young (USA)
[Q] D. Lajovic (SRB) vs I. Karlovic (CRO)
M. Lopez (ESP) / R. Nadal (ESP) vs [2] J. Rojer (NED) / H. Tecau (ROU)
D. Inglot (GBR) / R. Lindstedt (SWE) vs J. Cabal (COL) / R. Farah (COL)


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68 Comments for Nadal Denies Dimitrov In Basel, Federer Faces Kohlschreiber Thursday; Ferrer Withdraws From Valencia

elina Says:

Nadal was broken four times with 28 unforced errors.

He won by playing less horribly than Dimitrov broken five times with over 40 UEs who has not beaten a Top 30 player in over five months.

That level of play was enough against a slumping Dimitrov but won’t get it done against Cilic.


skeezer Says:

Rafa has his fans delusional as well, he shouldn’t win, can’t win, but somehow someway due to his miraculous being, he is winning. How about giving Rafa some credit?.
Now he has no chance against Cilic.
The unde dog play continues……however.. the recent blog statician fails to analyse properly.


jane Says:

i thought nadal played ivo next… oops. totally out of the loop.


RZ Says:

Looks like only Gasquet has a chance to crash the London party, but he’d need to win Basel and Paris probably. Ferrer and Nishikori aren’t playing this week but are sitting pretty. Tsonga isn’t playing either so he is out of London though he would probably get in as an alternate.


peter Says:

I think this result is pretty good for nadal, given this is his worst surface.

Besides two great years in his career, his performance during the indoor season is mediocre.


elina Says:

Anyone that thinks Nadal played well broken four times with a dozen more errors than winners obviously needs to practise their topspin and read less.


Giles Says:

Since when does a player have to play well to win?????
NEVER!!


Gypsy Gal Says:

A few months ago he was playing badly and losing,at the moment hes doing what he hasnt done all year,and thats fighting and digging deep,id certainly take winning and winning ugly,rather than seeing him keep losing all the time,he can at least try to improve on a poor performance,but cant do much worse than a loss….


elina Says:

That said, speaking of stats, I just realized that Cilic hasn’t beaten a top 10 player since beating Roger in straights over a year ago at the US Open so perhaps Nadal can win ugly again!


elina Says:

GG I am a tennis fan more than a fan of any single player.

Happy for Nadal fans andd good for Nadal to play bad and win against another opponent playing bad but it doesn’t make for good tennis viewing.


Gypsy Gal Says:

It doesnt make for good tennis viewing, thats true,but sometimes you have no option but to dig deep get a result,the elite players do that at times,to use a comparison you sometimes see it with football matches,and ive seen enough of those over the years to know they sometimes have to do exactly the same,as i say he can at least improve on a poor performance,but theres not much he can do about a loss….


J-Kath Says:

Nadal’s determination won the match – that has been his missing link – he’ll be able to build on that.


elina Says:

GG, your right if it is just “sometimes” of course that is what great players do.

But sometimes is the operative word. With Nadal it’s been more often than not this year and this is my point. It won’t hold up against anybody in the Top 10.

And no I don’t believe it was Nadal’s determination as much as it was Dimitrov simply playing more inconsistently. He had almost 50 unforced errors and still broke Nadal four times.

Ugly beat uglier. Simple as that.

Again, might make for good drama but doesn’t make for elite tennis the way it should be played and the way that Nadal can play.


Gypsy Gal Says:

It wont hold up against anybody in the top 10?,youve been saying that for months,and who did he beat in Shanghai a couple of weeks ago,Raonic and Wawarinka both top 10 players i believe?your opinion is only your opinion,but that does not make your opinion a bona fide fact….


Ben Pronin Says:

Raonic is in the top 10???

Wow even I’m annoyed with this constant Nadal criticism now. When he loses, sure, criticize him,. But now he’s winning the very matches he struggled with all season. As recently as Cincy where he couldn’t pull through in a tight match against Lopez.

Winning ugly is a huge part of tennis. If he didn’t play well against Dimitrov but still won then that’s it. He doesn’t have to play perfect in every match, no one does and no one can. You take the wins whenever you can. And we’ve seen it a million times that form on one day doesn’t dictate form on the next. Plus if he sees Roger across the net then nothing really will matter since nothing gets Rafa’s motors going like playing against TMF.


skeezer Says:

^Yep.

“I am a tennis fan more than a fan of any single player.”
LMAO.


Jo Says:

Give Nadal a break, he came out of a whole quite a few times, but he won. He has been thru a lot. I bet he gets better and better. He has always had to dig himself out of tough matches. I will always love to watch him.


Jo Says:

clean up my selling Jo


SG1 Says:

Giles Says:
Since when does a player have to play well to win?????
NEVER!!

————–

True. And this logic can be taken a step further. Player ‘A’ can play more poorly than Player ‘B’ over the majority of the match and still win if Player ‘A’ plays better than Player ‘B’ at the right moments.

“Winning ugly” is often what champions do because they’re so good that when they do have an off day, there’s still enough in their tool box to figure things out. Brad Gilbert wrote a whole book about it…and he wasn’t even a great player.


Gypsy Gal Says:

SG1,Ben,Giles thanks for proving my point,great posts….


Daniel Says:

Also the best asset of Nadal’s whole persona was/is his never die attitude. If he can built on that winning several matches of the brink of defeat all the better for him. He doesn’t need easy matches now. He needs to win close three setters so next time he is in that position again he can build on that. Also these are the first indoor matches he is playing in a almost two years. (last year he played one match in Basel, lost and had surgery, so basically it doesn’t count).

The way the draw is playing, both Fed and Nadal (if they get through) could have a serve bomb on semis, Fed getting Sock and Nadal Karlovic who is in Quarters already. If Gasquet wins and gets there and Nadal beata Cilic, Nadal is safelly in finals, because even with him not playing great, there is nothing in Gasquet game that troubles Nadal.


jatin Says:

Rafa is progressing rather well and that is what he has always been known for “His never say die attitude”
He showed grid, determination and will against his first two opponents. He was down 2-4 against rosol in the tie breaker and somehow won it.

I would consider this as a very positive step as rafa was losing the same type of matches all year.
I hope he can continue this and we could somehow get Fedal. Maybe its just me, but seeing rafa at the other side of the net against fed and their names being highlighted before the first serve kicks off makes me so excited and nervous at the same time, no matter how many times rafa has beaten roger.
Their rivalry is something really special. I would love to see how well fed could handle those topspins and play those SABR attacks against rafa. This final could possibly redefine their rivalry again.
But we still have a long way to go.


Gypsy Gal Says:

Jatin whichever player of the two wins,that rivalry has given us some epic battles over the years….


jalep Says:

Cilic keeps improving. He hit Gabashvili off the court 2014 USO style — just watched the replay.


Okiegal Says:

Can Rafa keep playing “ugly” tennis and get to the finals?? I hope so….but it is good to see he’s got the never say die attitude back! That is one positive thing. I had lost all hope when he was getting broken on his first service games at the onset of the sets. But he managed somehow to overcome it. Maybe his mental attitude believes he can…..which is comforting if you’re a fan!!


Gypsy Gal Says:

Hi Okie/Hi Jalep ;)….


jalep Says:

Hi Gypsy, nice to read you. Hope your studying is going well these days :)


J-Kath Says:

All of the above (minus Elina – sorri Elina) supports the level of Rafa’s determination as I said above. I am hopeful that with each match his defiance increases – why? because he is so much part of the “to-day’s best” Players that one wants to see him compete return to his highest level.


elina Says:

Firstly, Nadal didn’t win ugly against Raonic nor Wawrinka. I never said he did. He played great.

Winning ugly should be the exception to the norm, not the norm itself.

Other than indoors, Roger is just easy for Nadal – motor has nothing to do with it. It took Nadal’s best level in 2013 and small-raquet-wonky-back Roger for Nadal to secure his single indoor win against Roger. In his four losses, Nadal managed one set.

Should they meet in Basel at their respective levels, it will be Roger in straight sets.

Hope this helps!

(Aside: Raonic drops to No. 14 next week.)


elina Says:

Also, I didn’t say Nadal hasn’t improved from rock bottom, just that he is far from competing with the likes of Fedole ATM.

He needs more than match determination for that.


jatin Says:

Gypsy
Yeah, you are right.
With whom rafa is playing next ?
I guess cilic. Tough text awaits

Meanwhile, its roger on the court now against kohesscriber :)


jatin Says:

^^
test


jalep Says:

Not necessarily a given that Federer will win another title here or beat Kohls. Think about this match from Kohls side ;) Kohls chance has maybe never been better… he looks good indoors.

Come on, this is yours, Special K!


Gypsy Gal Says:

Personally i never said he was at the level of Fedole,he isnt even playing either of them,so i dont really know what that or previous losses have to do with what i am talking about now?he was losing against Rosol and he got a result,he was losing against Dimitrov and he got a result, the point is ,does what happened in the past determine what happens in the future? err NO it doesnt,does stating ones opinion make it a bona fide fact? err NO it doesnt,the past is history the futures a mystery,and tomorrow as they say is another day,and anything can happen,PEACE….


Ben Pronin Says:

Seeing Roger across the net really gets Rafa’s motor going.


Gypsy Gal Says:

Jalep yeah fully expect it to be tough against Cilic,but win or lose im enjoying seeing Rafael Nadal playing like Rafael Nadal again,FIGHT,FIGHT,FIGHT,and dig deep if thats what he has to do….


Gypsy Gal Says:

^Sorry should be Jatin not Jalep^….


jalep Says:

Two sides to every match and story, Gypsy. Rafa will not allow himself to get hit off the court for 2 sets against Marin. Gabashvili sort of caved in 2nd set. 63, 61.

Rafa can take Cilic — I see it ;’)


jatin Says:

Solid play by fed. 6-4


jatin Says:

Agree with jalep. He can certainly take down cilin.
Dr. Ivo could be a completely different test though. I don’t think anyone would want to play against him. His service is just out of this world.
Just imagine Dr Ivo with novak’s type of ground game.


Gypsy Gal Says:

Jalep your a very balanced poster,and a great observer of the game,i agree with what the very much missed Grendel once said about your posts, and how he loved reading them….


jalep Says:

I’ll take the compliment while it comes my way, thanks, Gypsy. Grendel was a wise teacher – loved his match reports.

Kohls is not caving in; he’s seen it all before.


jalep Says:

Their match was close in Halle this year. PK must be so tired of losing to RF.


Gypsy Gal Says:

Well i didnt see that one coming,a set each now….


J-Kath Says:

very solid play from Phillip.


jalep Says:

GG, PK has never beat Federer – rarely gets a set; but he made a match of it already once this year. No time like the present, tho. They’ve played a lot and Kohls is due…one of these times, one of these days…

My Gosh. Can you imagine how a win would feel if you are PK?


Gypsy Gal Says:

Yeah Jalep,nice sometimes to see the underdog have their day for a change….


Daniel Says:

Arrive home just in time for finala games of Fed x Kolsh, hope Fed is able to come through, 30-30 now Kolsh serving 3-3.


Gypsy Gal Says:

Phils making a match of it,i do like it when these underdogs think f*ck it ill just go for it, but whats annoying is when these type of crowds are so pro Federer they are cheering an error by his opponents,or their applause is so begrudging,too much hero worshipping….


Daniel Says:

Fed needs to be very carefull this next games, 3-4 serving down, a vad game can cost the match. Kohls play a solid game, it was 15-30 after Fed hit a defense lobby that went in and he had some solid serves and groundstrokes to close it out


jalep Says:

Yeah, PK is a consummate pro — so used to the RF fan stuff, GG. In this case especially, Kohls probably expects it.

no oh…. shoot.


Gypsy Gal Says:

I thought someone shouted out in the middle of that rally,and Phil hesitated slightly,it might of put him off and made him lose that point,im surprised nobody picked up on that hmm?….


jalep Says:

Cheers, Daniel; congrats Fed! I think you are hoping for a Fedal, Daniel?

Get him next time, PK.


Gypsy Gal Says:

Well done Fed,very nice match,very solid clean ball striking….


Daniel Says:

Yeap Jalep!

FEd is searching for his 0th final here (straight also),

I know he has 10 finals in Wimbledon and I think eleven in Halle (10 for sure as he has 8 titles and lost finals to Haas and Hewiit that I sat recall), think host another final there early 2000’s.
And in Dubai he has 9 finals with 7 titles. SO if he reaches finals here I think he will be the first to have 10 or more finals in 3 tourneys, maybe 4 next year with Dubai. WTF also he has 9 finals (lost 1 to Nalbandin, 1 to Djoko and last year walkover to Djoko).

I don’t know if Nadal has 10 finals in any tourney still, RG 9 and MC 9 for sure as he lost 1 final to Novak, but Barcelona never lost a final with 8 titles


jalep Says:

Most impressed with Donald Young. Huge win over Anderson.


Gypsy Gal Says:

Jalep what did you think of my post at 4.57pm,i couldve swore someone called out in the middle of a rally making Phil hesitate ever so slightly?….


jalep Says:

Yeah, GG, think so. There were a couple times – someone with a flash camera too and PK hesitated looking behind him? And the ump could have had the points replayed – maybe didn’t do enough.

Rafa will slow things down vs Federer. PK plays at Fed’s pace.

Hasn’t Rafa been getting lots of fan support in Basel?


elina Says:

The Basel fans are some of the respectful and knowledgable in the world.

Can’t blame them for cheering for their guy but they don’t take it too far like the NY crowd against Novak. That was classless.


Gypsy Gal Says:

Jalep yeah true those two seem to both get alot of support wherever they go….


jalep Says:

So, Jack Sock is on fire. Young is surfing a wave of confidence. Which one would be better vs Federer, assuming that Fed makes it past Goffin?

Or just think if Goffin beat Federer?! I’d go nutz.


Ben Pronin Says:

Jack Sock has quietly been putting together a very nice fall season. And I’m surprised at Young’s win but he’s also gotten quite good at be streaky; before he was always bad but now he can surprise you with a win every few weeks or months at least. But Anderson has also suffered some odd losses in the last few weeks.

But Sock, you know, he’s been written off but he’s still only 23. It’s not like the rest of his generation is stepping up in big ways so there’s no reason why he couldn’t make a leap.


skeezer Says:

“The Basel fans are some of the respectful and knowledgable in the world.”
Lol.
Where is the knowledge and/or stats to know this for certain? Compared to what? Facts please.
Regardless about how some think the NY crowd is bad, guess what, they are still going to have it next year and the year after. NY is well known for its unique rowdiness, ask Connors, he loves em.


Okiegal Says:

I love the New York crowd…..and the Aussie crowd too!!


Okiegal Says:

When spirits and such like are served at sport functions, of course things are gonna get a little rowdy…….


skeezer Says:

@OK,
Hugs and laughs your way ;-)


Okiegal Says:

@Skeezer

Thanks…..I’ll take all the hugs I can get…..and some of the stuff posted on TX makes me laugh…. :)


Heather-Flower Says:

I love attitude Rafa! Because he never, ever gives up, never, ever gives in, or believes he cannot do something…it’s completely empowering!…so no matter how many times you get slapped in the face and told you’re not good enough….just keep going, refuse to give in, and gradually hey presto he’s back in the game!….H x

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