Garcia storms into Dubai semis, set to meet veteran Barbora

The rainy and cold weather which interrupted the tournament briefly on Wednesday turned better Thursday as Garcia, ranked 38th in the world, overcame her tall rival 6-3, 6-5. 

The 23rd-ranked German seemed to be somewhat exhausted from previous matches and a bit unfocused. The more mistakes she made, the more she expressed her frustration visibly and audibly through negative monologues. 

The second quarter-final took more than two hours as Italy’s Sara Errani turned the table in the second set, winning it 6-1 against Madison Brengle, after she lost the first set 6-4. As the 25-year-old American failed to retake the initiative on the center court, Errani won the third set 6-4.

Spain’s Rafael Nadal struggled to put away countryman Nicolas Almagro but eventually secured a 6-3, 7-5 second-round victory at the Rio Open to set up a quarterfinal clash against the Ukraine’s Alexandr Dolgopolov. 

The top-seeded Nadal needed one hour and 40 minutes to wrap up a second consecutive straight-set win at this claycourt tournament on Thursday, part of the ATP Tour’s South American swing. 

The World No. 5, who is trying to bounce back after a disappointing season in which he did not win any of tennis’ biggest events, was mostly able to dictate play on Guga Kuerten Court. 

Nadal was shaky toward the end of the contest, however, losing his serve twice in a row, including squandering a chance to serve out the victory at 5-4 and failing to convert two match points.

Veteran Indian star Leander Paes and French partner Jeremy Chardy fought off a strong challenge from Marcel Granollers and Sam Groth in the quarter-finals of the $514,065 Delray Beach Open being held at the Delray Beach Tennis Center. 

The Indo-French combination squandered an early lead before staging a superb comeback to carve out a 6-3, 4-6, 10-6 win and enter the semi-finals on Thursday.