Madrid: Unseeded Kiki Bertens continued her giant-killing act as she defeated seventh seed Caroline Garcia of France 6-2, 6-2 and seal her spot in the summit clash round in the women’s segment of the Madrid Open tennis tournament here, Friday. The match lasted a mere 68 minutes.
However, in the men’s segment Serbian Dusan Lajovic who had stunned Thursday, sixth seed Juan Martin del Potro, failed to continue his act and went down 6-7(3-7), 6-3, 3-6 to South African fourth seed Kevin Anderson in their quarterfinal encounter.
Earlier, World No.1 Rafa Nadal set a new record Thursday, of winning 50 consecutive sets on a single surface by beating Argentine Diego Schwartzman 6-3, 6-4 Thursday to reach the quarterfinals.
The Mallorcan surpassed John McEnroe’s previous record of 49 consecutive sets on carpet which had stood since 1984 by seeing off 13th seed Schwartzman and claiming a 21st consecutive win on clay.
Nadal said he was unaware of the record. “These moments I don’t go out there and think about these kind of things. I just think about my opponent, what I have to do to keep on going. That’s all,” Nadal told a news conference.
“When my career is over, these are things that are going to be there for always. They are big records. It’s difficult to be able to win 50 sets in a row. But I’ve done it. Let’s not talk about that anymore and let’s continue on what we have ahead.”
In another match played late Thursday night, American John Isner also advanced to the quarterfinals after overcoming Uruguayan Pablo Cuevas in a tight match 6-6(9-11), 7-6(7-3), 7-6(4). He will play German Alexander Zverev, who beat Argentine Leonardo Mayer 6-4 6-2.
