Shanghai Masters: Nadal, Federer eye quarter-final berths

World number one Rafael Nadal and Swiss maestro Roger Federer will aim to book their place in the quarter-finals of the Shanghai Masters when they play their respective last-16 rounds here later today.

Yesterday, Nadal, who is still in the market for his first Shanghai Rolex Masters title, had little trouble dispatching American Jared Donaldson 6-2, 6-1 in just 54 minutes as he extended his winning streak to 13 matches on a rain-hit day at the Qi Zhong Stadium.

The 16-time Grand Slam champion will now take a 9-3 head-to-head series lead into the third round against Italian Fabio Fognini, winning their two 2017 meetings in Miami and Madrid.

 

On the other hand, Federer had to work a little harder for his 7-6 (4), 6-4 second round win over Diego Schwartzman of Argentina. The Swiss maestro led 4-2 in the first set but surrendered that lead to end up fighting it out in a tie-breaker.

Federer will now lock horns with qualifier Alexandr Dolgopolov of Ukraine in his round-of-16 match.