Top seed Rafa Nadal marched into the last 16 of the Shanghai Masters with a thoroughly entertaining 6-2 6-7 6-4 victory over American James Blake on Wednesday. US Open champion Juan Martin Del Potro, however, joined the growing casualty list at the $3.24-million tournament, retiring because of a wrist injury while 7-5 2-1 down to Austrian Jurgen Melzer.
World number two Nadal beat Blake in three sets on his way to the semi-finals in Beijing last week and on Wednesday needed more than two hours to get past the man he rates as having one of the best returns in the game. Third seed Del Potro followed Andy Roddick in departing early through injury after the American fourth seed departed with a knee problem on Tuesday.
Fifth seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France took exactly an hour to dismiss Chinese wild card Zeng Shaoxuan 6-3 6-3 and set up a third-round clash with Swedish ninth seed Robin Soderling, who beat Spain's Nicolas Almagro 6-4 7-5. Ivan Ljubicic proved it was possible to play at the top level after 30, despite the gruelling schedule, by upsetting Spanish seventh seed Fernando Verdasco 6-4 7-6. The Croatian will meet Gael Monfils in the last 16 after the French 11th seed rallied from a break down in the third set to beat Australia's former world number one Lleyton Hewitt 4-6 6-4 6-2.
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