Nadal ousts Stepanek into Queen's Club quarters

     LONDON, June 9 (Xinhua) -- World No. 1 Rafael Nadal fought three sets to down Czech Radek Stepanek 6-3, 5-7, 6-1, reaching the quarterfinals at Queen's Club on Thursday.

    The French Open champion admits he could do with some time off as he is still drained by his heroics in Paris and the strain showed a little during this inconsistent display.

    "He made it tough and I'm a bit tired. But the crowd are fantastic and it's a pleasure to be here," Nadal said.

    "I am motivated to keep playing well. Wimbledon is there, but I 'm focused on Queen's for now. I will have to play well against ( Jo-Wilfried) Tsonga to win."He looked comfortable（舒适的） enough in the first set on Thursday and got the only break in the fifth game as a powerful backhand pass left Stepanek rooted to the spot.

    The second set seemed to be following a similar pattern when Nadal broke for a 3-1 lead.

    This time Stepanek, aided by some sloppy¹ play from Nadal, broke back as the Spaniard served for the match.

    Encouraged by that escape, Stepanek took advantage of a series of Nadal double faults to break again and then serve out the set.

    In the final set, the Spaniard finally found some momentum², breaking twice in succession to set up a last eight clash against French fifth seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.

    World number four Andy Murray ignored the pain of his ankle injury to reach the last eight with a 6-4, 7-6 (7/3) win over Serbian 14th seed Janko Tipsarevic.

    Murray has conceded that the recovery time for the ligament and tendon damage he sustained at the French Open means he should really be resting this week, but a desire to get plenty of time on grass before Wimbledon has forced him to ignore his discomfort³.

    Andy Roddick remained in the hunt for a record fifth Queen's crown with a 6-4, 6-4 win over South Africa's Kevin Anderson.

    The American third seed, a three-time Wimbledon finalist, thrives on grass and he did just enough to see off 15th seed Anderson and seal a last eight clash against Fernando Verdasco, who defeated David Nalbandian 7-5, 6-1.

    France's Adrian Mannarino, ranked 54th, enjoyed a remarkable⁴ success as he reached the last eight on his Queen's debut⁵ as the 22-year-old defeated former US Open champion Juan Martin del Potro 7-6 (7/3), 7-6 (9/7).(本文由在线英语听力室整理编辑)

1 sloppy   

adj.邋遢的，不整洁的

参考例句：

• If you do such sloppy work again,I promise I'll fail you.要是下次作业你再马马虎虎，我话说在头里，可要给你打不及格了。
• Mother constantly picked at him for being sloppy.母亲不断地批评他懒散。

2 momentum   

n.动力，冲力，势头；动量

参考例句：

• We exploit the energy and momentum conservation laws in this way.我们就是这样利用能量和动量守恒定律的。
• The law of momentum conservation could supplant Newton's third law.动量守恒定律可以取代牛顿第三定律。

3 discomfort   

n.不舒服，不安，难过，困难，不方便

参考例句：

• One has to bear a little discomfort while travelling.旅行中总要忍受一点不便。
• She turned red with discomfort when the teacher spoke.老师讲话时她不好意思地红着脸。

4 remarkable   

adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的

参考例句：

• She has made remarkable headway in her writing skills.她在写作技巧方面有了长足进步。
• These cars are remarkable for the quietness of their engines.这些汽车因发动机没有噪音而不同凡响。

5 debut   

n.首次演出，初次露面

参考例句：

• That same year he made his Broadway debut, playing a suave radio journalist.在那同一年里，他初次在百老汇登台，扮演一个温文而雅的电台记者。
• The actress made her debut in the new comedy.这位演员在那出新喜剧中首次登台演出。