Posted at 8:19 a.m., Thursday, July 19, 2007
Tennis: Nadal overcomes injury to win in Mercedes Cup
Associated Press
STUTTGART, Germany — Rafael Nadal overcame a right knee injury to win his 90th match in 91 attempts on clay, beating Philipp Kohlschreiber 6-3, 6-3 today to advance to the Mercedes Cup quarterfinals.The second-ranked Spaniard played with a taped knee and leg and was treated courtside after the 37th-ranked German won the first game.
Nadal is playing his first tournament since losing the Wimbledon final to Roger Federer in five sets on July 8. In that match, Nadal's right knee was taped while leading 4-1 in the fourth set.
"It was similar to what happened at Wimbledon," the top-seeded Nadal said. "I felt this stab of pain and I held myself back at first on the court and then it got better."
Nadal said he didn't expect to have to withdraw, and that it was the first time the problem had returned since losing to Federer.
"At the start, I really doubted if I could keep playing," Nadal said. "I believe I can keep going. Maybe its not 100 percent, but its pretty good."
Nadal, the three-time French Open champion, soon found his rhythm with his ground strokes and Kohlschreiber landed less than 40 percent of his first serves in the first set as Nadal broke to lead 3-2.
Sixth-seeded Juan Carlos Ferrero beat Diego Hartfield of Argentina 6-4, 1-6, 6-3, while Juan Monaco of Argentina beat Austria's Stefan Koubek, 6-2, 3-6, 6-3.
