Nadal takes another free ride
SHANGHAI – Rafael Nadal advanced to the Shanghai Masters final on Saturday after Feliciano Lopez became the ninth player to retire from the tournament when trailing, 6-1, 3-0.
The unseeded Lopez said he woke up Saturday with a right foot infection, and then twisted his right ankle on the last point of the first set.
The top-seeded Nadal, whose quarterfinal opponent Ivan Ljubicic of Croatia retired with a left hip injury, will play sixth-seeded Nikolay Davydenko in the final. The Russian outlasted second-seeded Novak Djokovic, 4-6, 6-4, 7-6 (1).
Nadal, who only lost four points in the five service games he played against Lopez, holds a 4-2 advantage over Davydenko in their previous meetings.
“He’s playing very well today,” Nadal said of the Russian. “He has a lot of rhythm, and he’s playing with a lot of intensity.” (AP)
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