SHANGHAI, (Reuters) – Rafa Nadal reached the final of the Shanghai Masters when Feliciano Lopez retired yesterday, the second evening in a row when the top seeded Spaniard’s opponent had to withdraw injured.
World number two Nadal was coasting at 6-1 3-0 when his compatriot Lopez, struggling with an ankle injury, became the ninth player to fail to finish a match at the $3.24 million tournament.
The 23-year-old will face Nikolay Davydenko in today’s final after the Russian sprang an upset on second seed Novak Djokovic with a 4-6 6-4 7-6 victory.
Nadal, who benefited from Ivan Ljubicic’s withdrawal to reach the last four, has not played a tour final since May’s Madrid Masters as knee and abdominal injuries disrupted his season.
“I was playing well today,” he told reporters. “I’m in the final which is very good news for me. I’m very happy, it’s my first final since my comebcak from injury.”
Lopez found an ace to help him win the opening game of the match but from then on Nadal dominated, winning the next six in a row and claiming the first set when his opponent went long.
The world number 41 turned his right ankle on that point and the match was over as a contest, Lopez bringing it to its inevitable conclusion 21 minutes later.
Lopez’s retirement can only fuel the debate about the length of the men’s season, which was sparked on Monday when Andy Roddick branded it ‘ridiculous’ and said it threatened to shorten the careers of the top players
Sixth seed Davydenko lost twice to Djokovic at the Masters Cup here last season but was an altogether different proposition yesterday.
