Rafa gets a freebie….
by bahamaderek on Apr.24, 2009, under David Nalbandian, Rafael Nadal
Rafael Nadal has received a free ride into the semi final of the Barcelona event.
The seventh-seeded Nalbandian, who had been bothered by inflammation of the right hip for the past couple of weeks and aggravated the injury towards the end of his third-round match against Nicolas Almagro, has been forced to retire.
“I’m sorry for Nalbandian, I knew he has been struggling with this and I hope he gets better soon,” said Nadal. “It’s always an interesting match against him, we’ve never played on clay and for me it would have been challenge.”
The last time they played at Indian Wells, Nadal was forced to save 5 match points in a thrilling second set tie breaker to avoid defeat. Nalbandian holds a winning record against Nadal, one of very few players who can make the claim, although his edge has come on hard court surface not clay.
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