Thaindian News

By Meena Kar
Rafael Nadal faced a good challenge for the U.S.Open championship from German contender Nicolas Keifer on September 4th, in the 2nd round of the U.S. Open at the Arthur Ashe Stadium. Keifer who lost the first set completely without opening his scores, steadily won the second set to the bafflement of the onlookers. Albeit he lost ultimately with the leading scores 6-0, 3-6, 6-3 , 6-4 attained by Nadal, experts complimented him for putting up an earnest fight for the title.

Giving an overview of the match, Nadal confessed, “The second set was a little bit more surprise, because I was winning 6-0, 2-1 with break. I had really bad game in 2-1. But that can happen…He started to play really well.”

Since the 2006 Australian Open Keifer has not exhibited the Grand Slam winning streak even though he was vouched by many to be a heartthrob in the tennis courts. He has proved those speculators wrong by being a heartburn instead sinking to an awful 129th position in the world at the age of 32.

The most talked about event in the past in which the two met as contenders was the (Roger’s Cup) Canadian Open Championship in Toronto, where Nadal emerged as victor taking the prestigious title home. Infact most matches held betwixt the 2 players have catapulted unfavorably for Keifer reportedly. Nadal had won the 2009 Australian Open also, where we recall his aggressive serves and agile returns.

Six time Grand Slam champion Rafael Nadal is to meet 32nd ranked Nicolas Almagro in the third round now. Nadal acknowledged that Almagro had great serves and he would definitely be more fierce playing with him.