The Shanghai Rolex Masters has put Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer on a collision course for another Masters 1000 final. The first two seeds have been showing a great appetite for success this week even though their backgrounds are a bit different. Roger Federer may still be testing the water as Shanghai stands as his first official event since 2017 US Open. On the other side, the current world No. 1 Rafael Nadal is continuing his winning streak that started more than a month ago in at Flushing Meadows in New York. They are both into the quarterfinals of the event without dropping a single set in the previous rounds.
Roger Federer dismissed Dolgopolov in straight sets
Seeded second in Shanghai, Federer had a perfect start in yesterday's session. He got past Diego Schwartzman in straight sets. A similar outcome was brought in by today's match against Alexandr Dolgopolov (41 ATP). The Ukrainian played lost in straight sets by 6-4 6-2 at the end of an hour of play. Thus he is now on a 5-0 deficit in head to head meetings over Federer, and he is yet to win a set against the Swiss star. Unlike yesterday, today's match saw a more committed Federer who stood firmly behind his serve. He didn't face a break point throughout the encounter, and without any pressure on his own serve, his task got easier. The next stage will bring Richard Gasquet (31 ATP) on the other side of the net who survived an all-around French three sets thriller against Gilles Simon.
Federer is also on a collision course with the one who ended his US Open bid a while ago as Juan Martin del Potro put up a solid display of tennis to conquer the third seed Alexander Zverev.
Rafael Nadal extending a solid winning streak on hard
Rafael Nadal is building a solid winning streak on a surface that is not his best ally, especially that Asian hard court.
But, at the end of the day, Nadal is the guy who hasn't lost an official match since August. Nick Kyrgios stunned him in the quarterfinals of Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati. The Spaniard has been on a roll since that defeat managing to clinch another US Open title and an ATP 500 event in Beijing last week. He has now 14 wins in a row and will face Grigor Dimitrov for a place in Shanghai's next round.
Fabio Fognini turned out to be an easy peak for the No. 1 seed as Nadal sent him off in straight sets by 6-3 6-1 in a bit over an hour of play. For Nadal, Dimitrov may pose a greater threat while seeking revenge for last week's defeat in Beijing. If he gets past Dimitrov, Nadal will face either the fourth seed Marin Cilic or a fellow Spaniard Albert Ramos-Vinolas.
