Nadal makes light work of Myrnyi
Afp, London
Rafael Nadal took the express route to the quarterfinals at Queen's as the top seed won the single game he needed to beat Max Mirnyi 7-6, 6-3. French Open champion Nadal had moved into a 5-3 second set lead before a torrential downpour forced the Spaniard off court the previous evening. It was crucial for Nadal to polish off the giant Belarussian immediately as he was due back on court later on Friday to play his last eight match against Nicholas Mahut, who shocked Ivan Ljubicic, the fifth seed, 7-6, 6-3. Nadal finished the job in business-like fashion, taking only three minutes to serve out the match in double-quick time. Fourth seed Novak Djokovic's impressive run of form came to an abrupt end when he lost his rain-delayed third round match against Arnaud Clement 6-2, 3-6, 4-6. Djokovic had risen to fourth in the world on the back of a 41-9 record this season that included three ATP Tour titles. But, although the Serbian is one of the game's brightest young stars, he was making his debut at Queen's this year and is still a grass court novice. He started well, breaking in the fifth game and then again in the seventh to take the first set with the minimum fuss. But Clement is an obdurate opponent and he refused to let Djokovic over-power him. He chased down every ball and produced some sublime winners to turn the tide, breaking in the fourth game of the second set and holding on to level the tie. Clement began to expose Djokovic's reticence to come in from the baseline and broke again in the first game of the final set. That was all the advantage Clement needed and he held serve throughout the set to earn a last eight match-up with Ivo Karlovic later Friday. Mahut emulated Clement's giant-killing achievement as he upset against Ljubicic. The Frenchman had been trailing 4-3 in the first set when the heavens opened the previous evening to halt play. But the unseeded 25-yearp-old, ranked a lowly 106th in the ATP rankings, regrouped overnight and advanced to his first ATP quarterfinal this year with one of the best results of his career. Ljubicic is ranked 12th in the world and has a game that should be suited to grass, but the big-serving Croat slipped out of Queen's before the quarter-finals once again.
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