Nadal Extends Winning Streak, Reaches Shanghai Third Round

Rafael Nadal continued his imperious run of form on Wednesday when he extended his winning streak to 13 matches with victory at the Shanghai Rolex Masters.

The top seed, seeking his seventh tour-level crown of the year, knocked out #NextGenATP American Jared Donaldson 6-2, 6-1 in 54 minutes on a rain-hit day at the Qi Zhong Stadium.

Nadal, the 2009 finalist in Shanghai, had to bide his time to notch his first service break. At 2-3, Donaldson dropped to 0/40 and held off five break points before his Spanish opponent clinched the game in a run of seven straight games – from 2-2 in the first set to a 3-0 lead in the second set. He broke 21-year-old Donaldson, a contender for next month’s Next Gen ATP Finals in Milan, for a fourth time to take a 5-1 lead in the second set.

The Spanish superstar will next take a 9-3 FedEx ATP Head2Head series lead into the third round against Italian Fabio Fognini, winning their two 2017 meetings in Miami and Madrid.

Nadal, who returned to No. 1 in the Emirates ATP Rankings on 21 August, is seeking to become year-end No. 1 for the fourth time (2008, 2010, 2013). He has amassed a 62-9 match record in 2017, including trophies at the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters (d. Ramos-Vinolas), the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell (d. Thiem), the Mutua Madrid Open (d. Thiem), Roland Garros (d. Wawrinka), the US Open (d. Anderson) and last week’s China Open in Beijing (d. Kyrgios).

The 31-year-old Nadal has also clinched his place at Nitto ATP Finals, to be held at The O2 in London from 12-19 November.

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