The Spanish Rafael Nadal suffered much more than anticipated but managed to pass the final round of the tournament to beat the Miami Portuguese Frederico Gil, 74 of the world, by 7-5 and 6-3 in 75 minutes.
The world number one was surprised by the aggressiveness and confidence of his great rival, he showed a good draw and especially a high mobility, which were on the verge of serving tray in the first set.
Gil, 24, was one of two survivors of the previous phase, with American Taylor Dent, Tommy Robredo of hangman. The Portuguese, coached by his compatriot uru Cunha Silva, had become the national player of the best results were obtained in the 25-year history of this tournament, and today it is dismissed with their heads held high.
Semifinalist in Johannesburg and Costa do Sauipe this year, and executioner of three Spaniards in the latter tournament, Gil is the best tennis player in the history of Portugal, Nuno Marques better than that in 1995 was the first place among the world's first one hundred in the post 86.
A physical basis for a major and constantly changing game, including left, Gil gave his best tennis to Nadal who committed an error is not too forced, but was resolved when the time is requis.
Nadal does not wrinkle, and the eyes of the Colombian singer meeting between the Swiss Stanislav Wawrinka, 16 favorites, and Russian Igor Andreev (20). Shakira, present in court, resisted the onslaught of Gil, who was even in the second set 2-0 and looked for the lines with hits on both sides.
The decisive moment came with the breaking out of the Portuguese, who brought the 3-2 friendly Mallorcan in the second race. Nadal then joined another game in white and a new sentence with break, and Gil with so much undone physically fight.
Nadal will face the winner in the eighth