Rafael Nadal put his shaky opening match with Pablo Carreno-Busta behind him, returning to the form that saw him end 2015 on a high by defeating Robin Haase 6-2, 6-3 in sixty-five minutes.
Nadal looked far better than his sluggish start against Carreno-Busta on Tuesday, breaking three times across two sets, and saving just the solitary break point in each set. The dominance on serve was particularly welcome as it was an issue that Nadal struggled with in 2015. The straights set win was a far more comfortable one for Nadal given that their previous encounter had resulted in a five set battle at Wimbledon in 2010. Nadal had eventually emerged victorious from that match, and went on to win Wimbledon that year.
The man who Nadal went on to defeat in that 2010 final, Tomas Berdych, was also in action in Doha on Wednesday. The thirty-year old Czech had little trouble in defeating Bosnian Damir Dzumhur 6-0, 6-4. Berdych had too much for the Bosnian, and played a nearly perfect first set. However, the Berdych serve proved to be surprisingly susceptible in the second set, broken twice as Dzumhur tried to find a way back into the match. It proved fruitless though, as Berdych continued to return well, breaking Dzumhur a further three times for a match total of six service breaks, ensuring that the match would not go to a deciding set.
British player Kyle Edmund played the last of the day’s second round encounters, and was victorious in a close match with Daniel Munoz De La Nava. Twenty-year old Edmund advanced to his first ATP quarter-final with a comeback 5-7, 6-3, 7-6 win over the Spaniard. Edmund managed to keep a higher percentage of first serves in play, a crucial factor as Munoz De La Nava was proving impenetrable on first serve, but susceptible on second.The difference in the Spaniard’s play was vast, winning ninety percent of first serve points, but less than half on second serve in the final set. This proved to be the difference, as Edmund managed to edge the final set tiebreak seven-three.
Edmund now faces Tomas Berdych, while Nadal will meet Andrey Kuznetsov.
