Tomas Berdych beaten at China Open while Rafa Nadal reaches quarter-finals
Thursday 8 October 2015 09:19, UK
Tomas Berdych crashed out in the first round of the China Open on Wednesday, losing to Pablo Cuevas 6-4 6-4 just two days after winning his first title of the year in the rain-delayed Shenzhen final.
The second-seeded Berdych won the Shenzhen Open last weekend and was targeting back-to-back titles in China, but will now have to wait at least another week to secure a spot in the eight-player field at the ATP Finals in London.
He's currently next in line for a berth, sitting in fifth place in the standings with a more then 300-point lead over his nearest competitor, Kei Nishikori.
Also in first-round action, huge-hitting Ivo Karlovic battled past Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 7-5 7-6 (7-1).
Fourth seed David Ferrer, fresh from winning the Malaysian Open in Kuala Lumpur, continued his impressive return to form following his elbow problems this summer, with victory over Lukas Rosol 7-6 (7-5) 6-2 to reach the quarter-finals.
In the day's other games, Lu Yen-Hsun from Taiwan upset Viktor Troicki 6-4 7-5 while Jack Sock beat Andreas Haider-Maurer 6-3 6-1.
Rafa Nadal secured a a last eight berth when he defeated Vasek Pospisil 7-6 (7-3) 6-4 in the late match and he will now take on the Canadian's doubles partner Jack Sock.
The Spaniard picked up his game considerably following his first-round match with the 230th-ranked Chinese wild card Wu Di, during which he was broken four times.
Against Pospisil, Nadal only faced one break point - and he saved it.
Britain's Dominic Inglot and Swedish partner Robert Lindstedt were beaten 4-6 7-6 (7-4) 10-7 in the doubles competition by second seeds Marcin Matkowski of Poland and Serbian Nenad Zimonjic.
Watch all the action from the China Open all this week on Sky Sports 3.
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