Top seed Rafael Nadal survived a scare to book his place in the semi-finals of the Rio Open by beating Pablo Cuevas. The 14-time Grand Slam winner lost the first set 6-4 against his Uruguayan opponent at Jockey Club Brasileiro. However, Nadal battled back to win the second set 7-5, and a 6-0 rout in the final set secured his place in the last four. The match ended at 3:21 in the morning local time on Saturday -more than 14 hours after the tournament opened play on Friday, as organizers scheduled all five top matches on center court, and they all went to three sets. It’s not a record. The ATP says one non-Grand Slam match ended slightly later – 3:24 a.m. in Tokyo in 2006. Nadal will have about 16 hours to rest before he faces No 4 Fabio Fognini in the semifinals. In a marathon, Fognini of Italy defeated Federico Delbonis of Argentina 6-4, 6-7 (10), 7-6. Fognini’s victory took three hours and 12 minutes, but second seed David Ferrer enjoyed a more comfortable 6-3 4-6 6-2 triumph over Juan Monaco. Ferrer will next face Andreas Haider-Maurer, who took two hours and 20 minutes to beat home favourite Joao Souza 7-6 (7-4) 1-6 6-4.
“No tennis tournament should end at this time,” Rafa said. “It’s tough for the players, but maybe worse for the fans. It very bad on the part of the ATP. It’s not the tournament’s fault. It was the ATP that didn’t want to reschedule a match. If it’s a Grand Slam you have a day to rest. It’s seems like a terrible error to me.”
“It’s a big win for me,” Nadal said. “I’m in the semifinals. It’s a great result and it gives me confidence.”
In the women’s draw, top seed Sara Errani had to overcome a similarly partisan crowd to beat wildcard Beatriz Haddad Maia 3-6 7-6 (7-2) 3-0, with the Brazilian retiring in the final set.
The world number 16 faces Johanna Larsson in the last four after the Swede beat Dinah Pfizenmaier 6-4 6-0.
Irina-Camelia Begu and Anna Schmiedlova will contest the other semi-final after beeting Julia Glushko and Veronica Cepede Royg respectively.
“She surprised me a lot. I didn’t know her game and she’s powerful, has an amazing serve and played a great match,” Errani told the reporters.
“It was hard to keep her close in the score and she had match points.
“In the third, she suffered from cramps because we were playing for so long. I feel sorry for her.”
Rafael Nadal vs Pablo Cuevas, 21/02/2015, 03:15 GMT, Match Center
Rio Open: Rafael Nadal into semi-finals after beating Pablo Cuevas
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