Nigeria Content Online

World
number one, Rafa Nadal, suffered a rare second-set meltdown before
recovering to beat plucky Slovakian, Lukas Lacko, and join rival Roger
Federer in the Qatar Open quarter-finals on Wednesday.

Nadal, who has been
suffering from a fever this week, took the first set on a tiebreak
after both men had traded breaks before collapsing in the second, where
he won just 11 points. It was the first time Nadal had lost a set 6-0
since February 2009 when he was beaten in the final of the World Indoor
Tournament in Rotterdam by Britain’s Andy Murray. The Spaniard
recovered brightly at the start of the final set to race into a 4-0
lead but dropped his serve for a fifth time in the match before closing
out a 7-6 0-6 6-3 victory. “It was really, really difficult,” said
Nadal, who is seeded to meet Federer in the final and will play Latvian
fifth seed Ernests Gulbis for a place in the last four. “Lukas played a
great match and if he plays at this level it is going to be difficult
for everyone to beat him.”

It was a slightly easier evening for Federer, who overcame a break
in the second set to take a 7-6 7-5 victory over Swiss compatriot Marco
Chiudinelli. “It was really difficult today, under the circumstances,”
said Federer, who closed out the match with a smash. “Playing such a
good friend is so rare for me. I’m happy the match is in the past and I
can look forward.” Federer, twice champion here, will face sixth seed
Viktor Troicki in the last eight after the Serbian eased past Russian
Teymuraz Gabashvili.

Third seed, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France, making
his comeback from injury, moved into the quarter-finals with a 6-2 6-4
defeat of Ukraine’s Sergei Bubka, son of the former Olympic pole vault
champion of the same name, and will face Spanish seventh seed,
Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, for a place in the last four.