The world number one Rafa Nadal won a battle of attrition against fellow left-hander Yoshihito Nishioka of Japan 7-6 (4) 6-4 to seal Spain’s spot in the final eight of the inaugural Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) Cup in Perth on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, his long-time rival, world number two Novak Djokovic, had an easier outing in Brisbane, strolling past Chile’s Cristian Garin 6-3 6-3 to stay undefeated in the new year.
His victory ensures Serbia will travel to Sydney for the knockouts having won all three of their ties.
Nadal had to twice fight back from a break down against the Japanese world number 72 in the opening set before winning the tiebreaker, while the Spaniard broke his opponent’s serve to go up 5-4 in the second before holding serve for victory.
“It’s the first day I was playing under such heavy conditions, two previous days I had played in the night.
“The feeling on court was completely different.
“I played against an opponent who started the season on fire, winning two matches against two great players with very comfortable results.
“Today was a very, very tough one,” Nadal said in an on-court interview.
It was Nadal’s third singles win in the $15 million ATP Cup, which features 24 nations competing in Perth, Brisbane, and Sydney over 10 days.
All six group winners and the two best second-placed teams will advance to the final eight stages in Sydney. Besides the hosts, Australia, Serbia, Britain, Russia, and Spain have qualified.
Garin broke Djokovic in the second set to go up 3-1 but it seemed to bruise the seven-time Australian Open winner’s ego as he won the next five games to complete victory.
“Sydney’s got a big Serbian community, hopefully, the support can be as good as it was here, even better,” Djokovic said.
Poland’s Hubert Hurkacz also picked up his third singles win of the tournament with an upset 3-6 6-4 7-6(5) win over world number four Dominic Thiem of Austria in Sydney.
It was the second loss in the new season for Them, who also lost to Croatia’s Borna Coric in his opening match.
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