MANERBIO, August 26, 2015
On Wednesday the two top-seeds advanced to the quarterfinals at the € 42,500 Manerbio Challenger without losing a set.
First seed Daniel Muῆoz de la Nava defeated Daniel Brands, winning 7-6, 6-4. The 33-year-old Spaniard withstood 15 aces, didn’t face a break point and saved two set points in the opening set to prevail after one hour and 38 minutes.
Muῆoz de la Nava, currently ranked on 105th position is close to crack the top 100 for the first time. “I do not exactly know the situation. I know that I am close, but it shouldn’t become an obsession. I will go on with a lot of confidence, regardless of the ranking,” the man from Madrid told and is happy to feel well on court again. Muῆoz de la Nava’s dreams of glory were disrupted about fifteen years ago when he was ranked within the top 20 junior’s players.
“I was in the car in Madrid and just received my driver’s licence. I was too fast and the road was wet. I lost control and crashed. My knee got injured. It was tough to be competitive again but I have worked hard,” he explained and added that he now also enjoys his life with the family having a wife and two daughters, the younger with just a month and a half.
“Here in Manerbio I am alone but my family travelled with me for more than a month. It is not easy to manage the tennis tour as well as family life. But my wife supports me a lot and it’s also great to share everything with them,” the Spaniard says.
De la Nava will face Italian wild card Federico Gaio next, who defeated fifth-seed Andrej Martin 7-6, 6-0 in one hour and 29 minutes.
Andrej Kuznetsov (photo: Felice Calabro)
Second seed Andrej Kuznetsov also made it to the quarterfinals when he dismissed Frederico Ferre Silva, winning 6-4, 7-6. The 24-year-old Russian fired 10 aces and won 86% of his first service points to seal victory in one hour and 31 minutes.
Kuznetsov will take on Juan Carlos Saez next. The world number 254 from Chile beat Marco Trungelliti 3-6, 6-3, 7-5 in two hours and 39 minutes.
