Nadal through after another scare

 

Originally published on: 26/02/10 12:55

Robredo served for the match at 5-4 in the final set but was unable to close out a famous win against his fellow Spaniard.

Nadal, who saved five match points against Nicolas Almagro in the previous round, made the most of his reprieve to seal a 6-3 3-6 7-5 victory.

The world number two will face France’s Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the last eight after Tsonga’s 6-2 6-3 demolition of compatriot Gilles Simon.

Tsonga qualified for the ATP World Tour Finals with victory in this event last year, and remained on course for a repeat as he overpowered Simon.

The other quarter-final in the bottom half of the draw sees Robin Soderling take on in-form world number three Novak Djokovic.

Djokovic beat Roger Federer in the final of the world number one’s home-town event in Basle last weekend and today demolished home favourite Arnaud Clement 6-2 6-2.

Soderling beat Nikolay Davydenko 6-3 3-6 6-4 but the Russian still qualified for the World Tour Finals thanks to Fernando Verdasco’s loss to Marin Cilic.

In the top half of the draw, Gael Monfils will play Cilic for a place in the semi-finals after ensuring Julien Benneteau could not repeat his heroics of the previous round.

Benneteau knocked out Roger Federer in the second round but Monfils eased to a 6-4 6-3 win over his fellow Frenchman. Cilic recovered from losing the first set to beat Verdasco in three sets, while Radek Stepanek also came from behind to beat world number four Andy Murray 1-6 6-3 6-4.

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