Nadal scrapes into Cincinnati quarters, Murray cruises

Andy Murray

MASON, Ohio,  (Reuters) – World number two Rafa Nadal  scraped into the quarter-finals of the Cincinnati Open after  beating fellow Spaniard Fernando Verdasco 7-6 6-7 7-6 in a  fierce battle yesterday.
  
It was a gruelling contest in the heat for the Spanish pair  that lasted three hours and 38 minutes and was decided by a  mistake-filled third tiebreak.  

Andy Murray

Nadal, who gave up three match points in the decisive  tiebreak, stuck with the task to finish off a determined  Verdasco despite never finding his rhythm.  

While it was as close as could be, the game lacked the  expected quality as Nadal made 41 unforced errors and Verdasco  59 while the world number two managed only 24 winners.  

Nadal will face Mardy Fish in the quarter-finals after the  American beat France’s Richard Gasquet 7-5 7-5.  
Britain’s Andy Murray had an easier route into the last  eight with a relatively comfortable 6-2 7-5 win over American  qualifier Alex Bogomolov.  

The win gave Murray revenge for his defeat to the  Moscow-born Bogomolov in Miami earlier this year.  
Czech Tomas Berdych easily dealt with Spain’s Nicolas  Almagro  6-2 6-2 and will face the winner of the match, later  on Thursday, between world number three Roger Federer and  American James Blake.  

World number one Novak Djokovic will also be in action on  Thursday against Czech Radek Stepanek.