Rafael Nadal said he was braced for the “huge” serve of John Isner after Spain’s world number one bulldozed his way into the China Open quarter-finals on Thursday. The 16-time Grand Slam champion Nadal saw off the young Russian Karen Khachanov 6-3, 6-3 to set up a last-eight clash with Isner in Beijing.
The in-form American, the sixth seed, is renowned for his booming service game and Nadal expects to come under a barrage on Friday. Isner was impressive in blasting his way past Argentina’s Leonardo Mayer 6-0, 6-3 and Nadal said, “Tomorrow will be a tough one against Isner, he’s playing unbelievably well. I saw him today, he played so aggressive, having a lot of success, hitting a lot of winners, returning very well. Everybody knows that he serves huge and it is so difficult to break him. But if you add that he is playing very well now from the baseline, he is one of the toughest opponents you can meet.”
Nadal, 31, the top seed and coming off the back of a third US Open title, saved two match points against Frenchman Lucas Pouille in his opener in Beijing. But he was always in control against Khachanov, 21, breaking him in the fourth game of the first set on the way to a routine victory.
In the women’s draw, former world number one and fourth seed Karolina Pliskova became the latest high-profile casualty on Beijing’s outdoor hard courts, going out in the third round to unseeded Sorana Cirstea. Cirstea follows fellow Romanian Simona Halep into the quarter-finals after the second seed sent Maria Sharapova packing on Wednesday. Cirstea, ranked 44 in the world, stunned the Czech Pliskova 6-1, 7-5 to reach the last eight.
She will play Latvia’s Jelena Ostapenko, the Roland Garros champion, after China’s top player Peng Shuai retired with a knee injury at 3-0 down in the first set.
