In a hard fought battle Gilles Simon of France could not withstand the expertise of Roger Federer!
Simon fights valiantly vs Federer
Three Sets or Five Sets?
Is it time for the women to show their true grit in major finals? Men play best out of five sets for all matches in majors. I think that would be too much to ask of the women for various reasons. Their rallies usually seem on average to be longer especially for the defensive player's matches ( I do not have the stats it is just by observation). Women are born with about thirty percent less muscle mass than men. Be that as it may I would like to see the fitness of the women tested to a higher level in major finals. This would also without retirements or ? guarantee that we would see at least three sets in the major finals on the women's side. When someone wins in straight sets now it's just too short for a major match. Think of some of your favorite players that you might watch for five sets if this change takes place!
The Women at the China Open
The final at the China Open went for three sets. With Maria Sharapova defeating Petra Kvitova 6-4,2-6,6-3!
Beijing is having some terrific matches
Rafael Nadal although winning today over German qualifier Peter Gojowczyk 6-3,6-4 showed subtle signs of his right wrist injury. During his match with Gojowczyk he hit many more backhand slices than he usually does. That indicates to me that he is saving his wrist for latter in the tournament when he will need it most. He said that so far he is not one hundred percent and that showed by how he played his strokes.
Beijing tournament is going strong. Rafael Nadal looked strong and able vs. Richard Gasquet but not so much vs German qualifier Peter Gojowczyk ?
BEIJING (AP) -- Rafael Nadal is back in form on the tennis court - and in his sharp-tongued critiques of the ATP tour.
The second-seeded Spaniard reached his first quarterfinal since capturing his record ninth French Open title in June with a 6-3, 6-4 win over German qualifier Peter Gojowczyk at the China Open on Thursday, then blasted the choice of tennis balls at the tournament.
''The ball is so bad here,'' Nadal said. ''If you throw the ball on the floor, the bounce goes everywhere. Is not a question of winning or losing. I won in Rio (earlier this year) with this ball.
''It's just that we're competing at the top level of our sport, tennis, and the ball is an important thing.''
This isn't the first time the 14-time major winner has complained previously about the ball in question - manufactured by Head. He also criticized the decision to switch ball manufacturers from tournament to tournament, saying it could result in injuries.
''This week we are playing with one ball. Next week we are playing with a different ball,'' he said. ''That's dangerous for the shoulder, dangerous for the elbow.''
Head is a corporate sponsor of the ATP tour, but each tournament has the right to choose the ball it wants to use from an approved list.
Andy Murray echoed Nadal's complaints about the difficulty of adjusting to a new ball each week.
''If you want to see consistently high level tennis, it's very difficult when you're changing balls from week to week -because they all react differently,'' he said after his 6-2, 6-2 win over Pablo Cuevas.
''I'm sure if you gave golfers a different ball to play with each week, it would take them time to adjust to that, as well.''
Nadal wasn't nearly as critical of his own game in his second match back from a two-month layoff due to a right wrist injury.
He was sharp for much of the match until the final game when he double-faulted and made two unforced errors to give Gojowczyk three break points. He fought them off, however, and closed it out on his fourth match point.
Nadal faces another qualifier in the quarterfinals, Martin Klizan, who advanced when seventh-seeded Ernests Gulbis of Latvia retired with a shoulder injury while trailing 6-2, 3-0.
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