Thursday 19 April 2012

Nadal sails past Kukushkin in Monte-Carlo

Rafael Nadal was in typically bruising form today as he sailed past Mikhail Kukushkin, 6-1 6-1 to advance to another Monte-Carlo quarter-final.  Nadal was impressive, but not tested by the Kazakh player who did not have the patience to live with the Spaniard from the baseline.  He will play Stanislas Wawrinka in the quarters, who surprisingly beat Nicolas Almagro, 6-3 6-3.  Novak Djokovic produced a gritty display to reach the quarter-finals after learning of the sad news that his grandfather had passed away in the morning.  He came from a set down to defeat Alexandr Dolgopolov, 2-6 6-1 6-4 to set up a quarter-final clash with Robin Haase.  

The remaining two quarter-finals will see Andy Murray take on Tomas Berdych and all French clash between Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Giles Simon.  Andy Murray progressed after Julien Benneteau suffered a reported broken elbow after a very nasty fall as he went to chase down a Murray shot deep in the first set of their third round encounter.  By all accounts, it had been a very competitive first set before the unfortunate injury...

I have not been able to watch much of this week's action and am not feeling this week's tournament; it doesn't help I have predicted most things wrong ;-) Next week will be a bumper week of tennis action headlined by a stunning line-up for the women's event in Stuttgart.

Monte-Carlo Quarter-Final Predictions:
Novak Djokovic to beat Robin Haase in 2 sets
Andy Murray to beat Tomas Berdych in 2 tight sets
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga to beat Giles Simon in 2 sets
Rafael Nadal to beat Stanislas Wawrinka in 2 sets

Murray v Benneteau

Nadal v Kukushkin

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