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Shanghai (Reuters): Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer resumed their battle for the year-end number one ranking with imperious victories to reach the third round of the Shanghai Masters on Wednesday.
Top seed Nadal extended his winning streak to 13 matches with a 6-2 6-1 demolition of American Jared Donaldson in the Qi Zhong Stadium before world number two Federer, to the delight of his sizeable Chinese fan club, got the better of Argentina’s Diego Schwartzman 7-6(4) 6-4.
Nadal, who leads Federer by 2,370 points going into the home straight of a season in which the two old rivals have shared out the game’s biggest prizes, was unstoppable against Donaldson and needed only 54 minutes to prevail.
“It was a very quick match in all aspects,” Nadal, bidding to end a year on top for the fourth time in his career, said.
”If the year-end ranking happens, it will be, I think, a very important achievement for me.
“With so many years of difference I think it’s something very difficult. But there remains work to do.”
He last finished the year as world number one in 2013.
Federer shows no sign of giving up the chase but had to battle hard against Schwartzman -- letting slip a break in the first set to get dragged into a tiebreak.
The 36-year-old Swiss always had an extra shot in his locker though and, having taken the opener, broke serve straight away in the second set to move towards victory.
He finished off the contest with his 14th ace, setting up a third round clash against Ukraine’s Alexandr Dolgopolov.
“It was a good win, very happy with my first match,” Federer said. “I knew he was dangerous. I could have closed the first set out earlier but I started the second set very well.”
Spaniard Nadal, who like Federer has won the Shanghai title once, will face Italy’s Fabio Fognini next.
Eighth seed David Goffin’s hopes of qualifying for the ATP World Tour Finals suffered a blow when he lost 7-6(4) 6-3 to Gilles Simon, while sixth seed Grigor Dimitrov had to save match points on the way to beating Ryan Harrison 3-6 6-3 7-6(6).
Seventh seed Pablo Carreno Busta also went out, losing 7-5 7-5 to fellow Spaniard Albert Ramos-Vinolas.
Reuters: Japanese teenager Naomi Osaka fought back from an early break to stun Venus Williams in straight sets and move through to the quarter-finals of the Hong Kong Open on Wednesday.
Osaka, who prevailed 7-5 6-2 for her best career win by ranking, double-faulted early in the opening set to hand seven-times grand slam champion Williams the advantage.
The 19-year-old broke back and levelled at 5-5 as the world number 5 looked to serve for a 1-0 lead. Osaka then pounced on Williams’s serve to break again and took the first set.
“I feel like even if I hit one semi-short ball she would come in and crush it, so I had to play really well,” Osaka said after the match.
Ranked 64 in the world, Osaka began to dictate terms in the second set, racing to 5-0. Williams held her serve to avoid the humiliation of a bagel and broke Osaka to make it 5-2. A double fault by the 37-year-old handed Osaka two match points and the youngster took the first in style to gain revenge for her loss to the American in the third round at Wimbledon.
Williams has already qualified for the season-ending WTA Finals in Singapore. Others who have booked spots in the Oct. 22-29 event are Garbine Muguruza, Simona Halep, Karolina Pliskova, Elina Svitolina, Caroline Wozniacki and Jelena Ostapenko.
Meanwhile, Russia’s Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova powered past American Jacqueline Cako 7-6(3) 6-1 to set up a clash with Osaka, while seventh seed Daria Gavrilova of Australia rallied to beat Shelby Rogers of the U.S. 6-1 2-6 6-2.
