Nadal, Tsonga, Murray advance
ROTTERDAM, Netherlands -- Top-ranked Rafael Nadal was pushed hard by 17-year-old junior champion Grigor Dimitrov before pulling out a 7-5, 3-6, 6-2 victory Thursday to advance to the ABN Amro quarterfinals.
Need the scores from any match played in this or any other tournament? Dimitrov showed he wasn't nervous or intimidated when the 478th-ranked wild card from Bulgaria broke Nadal in the first set to pull even at 4-4, only to lose his serve again at 5-5 as Nadal won the set.
Last year's Wimbledon and U.S. Open junior champ broke Nadal at 4-3 in the second and held on to force a deciding third set.
There, Nadal used his experience, saving two break points and finally winning after 2 hours, 25 minutes, as Dimitrov suffered leg cramps.
"He will certainly be a great player and for sure reach the top 10," Nadal said.
He advanced to matchup against seventh-seeded Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, who beat Dmitry Tursunov 7-6 (6), 6-2.
Also in the second round, second-seeded Andy Murray beat Andreas Seppi of Italy 7-6 (4) 7-5, and fifth-seeded Gael Monfils ousted defending champion Michael Llodra 6-4, 6-4.
Murray fought back from a 3-1 deficit in the second set, claiming the decisive break at 5-5 over Seppi, who beat Nadal in last year's event. Next up for Murray will be lucky loser Marc Gicquel of France, who has taken advantage as a late replacement for injured 2008 finalist Robin Soderling by beating countryman Paul-Henri Mathieu 6-4, 6-3.
Monfils' win over Llodra set up another all-French match with Julien Benneteau.
"It's interesting that French players have done so well in Rotterdam in recent years," Monfils said. "We like it here."
However, fourth-seeded Frenchman Gilles Simon lost to Mario Ancic of Croatia 6-4, 3-6, 6-3.
A single service break decided each set, as Ancic avenged his third-round loss to the Frenchman in the Australian Open.
"You know you have to fight for every point against Simon," Ancic said. "Sometimes you have to be patient and I managed that today."
Ancic, coming off last Sunday's final in Zagreb, next meets Mikhail Youzhny of Russia.
Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press
