Shanghai Masters: Nadal Out, Murray In Quarterfinals

Nadal out, Mayer advances
The Shanghai Masters are in the quarterfinals stage, and this is the second consecutive year that Rafael Nadal is not able to make it pass the third round at this tournament as he was eliminated by Jurgen Melzer from Austria last year, and now it was Florian Mayer who denied him the chance of advancing as the German eliminated the Spaniard in two sets on their match from Thursday. In fact, Nadal has not been able to make it to the quarterfinals in 2 occasions in the 16 tournaments he has played this year.

Murray beats Wawrinka
After defeating Stanislas Wawrinka from Switzerland in 3 sets, defending champion Andy Murray also got his ticket to the quarters, “The first set I was up 3-0, two breaks, pretty quickly, and I went up 5-0 in the third set. Both sets got a little bit closer than maybe they needed to be,” Murray said. The Briton is after his third straight title after wins in Japan and Thailand, and will have to play Matthew Ebden in order to be a step closer from that goal.

Roddick defeats Almagro
Andy Roddick managed to make it to the quarters thanks to a victory over Nicolas Almagro in 2 sets, and is now ready to play David Ferrer who defeated Juan Carlos Ferrero in 3 sets. Roddick is trying to finish this current season with positive results after he struggled with a few injuries and also after having being eliminated from Wimbledon at the third round. After Roddick was eliminated from the US Open in the quarters last month, he went on to play the China Open at Beijing, but it was eliminated in the first round, and this event raised some questions about his future in the sport, but after his convincing victory over Almagro it seemed clear that his retirement is not going to come just yet.

Ebden to quarters after defeating Simon
Number 102 in the world Matthew Ebden from Australia made it to the quarterfinals after defeating Gilles Simon from France. The Aussie beat the Frenchman in 3 sets, and will now be facing defending champion Andy Murray. A victory over the Briton will allow Ebden to make it to the ATP’s 100, and it will also make of Ebden of the most successful Australian tennis players since Lleyton Hewitt. Ebden’s good performance at the Shanghai masters, which took him from been at the 124th position to the 102nd is also of great advantage for the tennis player as it will secure him a direct entry into the Australian Open next year.