Spanish NO 1 tennis player Rafael Nadal this Sunday highlighted the importance to him of the Mutua Madrid Open which is being played in Madrid this week.
The top two seeds advanced to the Madrid Open second round on Sunday when Victoria Azarenka dispatched Svetlana Kuznetsova 7-6 6-4 and Maria Sharapova crushed Irina-Camelia Begu 6-0 6-2.
The Madrid Mutual Tennis tournament was officially presented to the press this Thursday.
Rafa Nadal became the first player in the open era to win two tournaments seven times when he fought off tenacious Spanish compatriot David Ferrer 7-6 7-5 to win a thrilling Barcelona Open final on Sunday.
Victoria Azarenka had to exert every ounce of her energy to beat German wild card Mona Barthel 6-4, 6-7 (3-7), 7-5 in a match that lasted for nearly 3 hours at the Porsche Grand Prix in Stuttgart, Germany on Friday.
Milos Raonic demonstrated his claycourt credentials with a 6-4 7-6 win over Andy Murray in the last eight of the Barcelona Open on Friday before top seed Rafa Nadal crushed Janko Tipsarevic 6-2 6-2 to claim his semi-final place.
Fourth-seeded Radwanska rallied past No. 8 Li Na of China 3-6, 6-2, 6-3 during day five of the WTA Porsche Tennis Grand Prix at Porsche Arena on April 27, 2012 in Stuttgart, Germany.
World No 1 Victoria Azarenka moved into the Stuttgart indoor tournament quarter-finals on Thur as 6th seed Caroline Wozniacki was upset by Angelique Kerber.
Rafa Nadal was less than his dominant best on the clay at the Barcelona Open on Thursday but was still good enough to secure a 6-2 6-3 win over Colombian wildcard Robert Farah and set up a quarter-final clash against Janko Tipsarevic.
World number two Rafa Nadal swept into the third round of the Barcelona Open when he thrashed Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 6-1 6-2.
World number two Maria Sharapova eased into the quarter-finals of the Stuttgart indoor tournament after France's Alize Cornet retired with an injury at the start of the second set.
World number eight Li Na needed a tie break to grab the first set against Czech Lucie Safarova but got a quick early break to clinch a 7-6 6-4 victory.
Copyright 1995 - . All rights reserved. The content (including but not limited to text, photo, multimedia information, etc) published in this site belongs to China Daily Information Co (CDIC). Without written authorization from CDIC, such content shall not be republished or used in any form. Note: Browsers with 1024*768 or higher resolution are suggested for this site.
License for publishing multimedia online 0108263 Registration Number: 130349 
