Nadal loses in semifinals
Published: October 11, 2009, 12:30 am
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BEIJING—Rafael Nadal lost in the semifinals of the China Open on Saturday, falling, 6-1, 6-3, to Marin Cilic.
The eighth-seeded Croat cruised past the Spaniard, setting up a final against Serbia’s Novak Djokovic, who beat Sweden’s Robin Soderling, 6-3, 6-3.
In the women’s draw, Svetlana Kuznetsova defeated Russian compatriot Nadia Petrova, 6-1, 6-3, to move into the final against 12th seeded Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland, who downed France’s Marion Bartoli, 6-4, 6-3.
Cilic broke Nadal’s serve twice in the first set, racing to a 5-0 lead as the world’s second- ranked player struggled against the 21- year-old’s booming serve and aggressive returns. Cilic racked up six aces in the first set, with a first-serve percentage of 83.
He continued to baffle Nadal in the second set, breaking serve in the first game and again in the sixth, wrecking Nadal’s timing and outpacing him with his groundstrokes.
“He was serving unbelievably and his returning was very fast and playing winners all the time,” Nadal said. “The worst thing for me was that when I had a little bit of a chance to come back to the match I didn’t play very well either.
“If you’re losing, 6-1, 6-3, there are a lot of things you’re doing wrong in that match. I can accept to win, I can accept to lose, but 6-1, 6-3 is . . . mentally I probably wasn’t there.”
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