Year-End No. 1 In Hand, Nadal Moves On

  • Posted: Nov 02, 2017

Year-End No. 1 In Hand, Nadal Moves On

Nov022017

Nadal next plays Krajinovic, a qualifier 

Rafael Nadal clinched the year-end No. 1 spot in the Emirates ATP Rankings on Wednesday for the fourth time. But the Spaniard’s season is not over yet.

Nadal continued his pursuit of a first Rolex Paris Masters title with a 6-3, 6-7(5), 6-3 victory over Pablo Cuevas to advance to the quarter-finals. The left-hander’s best result at the event came in 2007, when he lost in the final against David Nalbandian.

In the bigger picture, Nadal earned his 18th win in his past 19 matches, gaining momentum ahead of the Nitto ATP Finals, another event at which he will try to win his first title.

Nadal was certainly tested by Cuevas, who trailed by a set and a break. But the Uruguayan battled, breaking back immediately before overcoming a 2/4 deficit in the second-set tie-break to force a decider. In the third set, Cuevas overcame a 0-3 hole to get back on serve, but Nadal’s aggressive baseline play was simply too good on the day.

Cuevas hung in there against Nadal’s massive forehand, and produced some excellent shotmaking himself in what was an entertaining match, including a forward-facing tweener passing shot for a winner.

It was just the sixth time during Nadal’s recent hot streak that he dropped a set, excluding his loss against Roger Federer in the final of the Shanghai Rolex Masters.

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Nadal will open a new FedEx ATP Head2Head series on Friday, when he plays qualifier Filip Krajinovic for the first time. The Serbian evened his FedEx ATP Head2Head matchup with wild card Nicolas Mahut at 1-1, beating the Frenchman, 6-2, 3-6, 6-1, to advance to the quarter-finals after never previously making the third round of an ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event.

Krajinovic eliminated 10th seed Sam Querrey in the second round, ending the American’s hopes of qualifying for his first Nitto ATP Finals. Krajinovic is playing just his second tour-level event since winning back-to-back ATP Challenger Tour titles in Rome and Almaty, Kazakhstan.

The winner will play one of two London contenders, ninth-seeded John Isner or the No. 13 seed, Juan Martin del Potro. Third seed Marin Cilic beat 14th-seeded Roberto Bautista Agut in the last match of the day on Thursday evening, so del Potro can clinch his spot in London by beating Isner.

 Watch Full Match Replays

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