October 11, 2013 | By Long Island Tennis Magazine Staff
Photo credit: Adam Wolfthal
Rafael Nadal won his 50th ATP World Tour Masters 1000 quarterfinal match on Friday, his 68th win of the season at the 2013 Shanghai Rolex Masters, a 7-6(10), 6-1 win over Stanislas Wawrinka. Nadal will next play Juan Martin del Potro in the semifinals, after Del Potro beat Nicolas Almagro for the second time in as many weeks, 6-4, 6-3 in 72 minutes. Del Potro met Almagro in the Rakuten Japan Open Tennis Championships semifinals last week. Del Potro is one match win away from qualifying for the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals. Nadal leads del Potro 8-3 in their FedEx ATP Head2Head series, which includes a final victory at the BNP Paribas Open in March.
"I played very well today, very solid," said del Potro. "I played aggressive. I hit my forehand very well. I like the way I played today. I just want to keep improving [and] keep going far in this tournament."
Del Potro now has 4,180 points in the Emirates ATP Race To London. He is attempting to qualify for the event, set for Nov. 4-11 at The O2 Arena in London for the fourth time.
Nadal defeated Del Potro in the finals of the BNP Paribas Open in March.
"I cannot expect a similar match to Indian Wells,” said Nadal. “Even the match was very hard there. The only way to play against him and be successful is [to] play my best tennis [and] play aggressively on this surface."
