Rain Halts Nadal's Charge; Karlovic Defeats Safin

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Rafael Nadal will serve for the match against Max Mirnyi when play resumes on Friday at the Artois Championships.

Rain forced the players off court for the second and final time at just past 7.00 pm local time at The Queen’s Club, with Nadal leading 7-6(3), 5-3 against the “Beast” from Belarus.

Their third round match had been delayed for 90 minutes with Nadal leading 1-0 in the second set, and when play resumed Nadal broke to lead 3-1.

In a match that did beat the rain, former finalist Ivo Karlovic fired down 22 aces en route to a 7-6(3), 7-6(4) victory over No. 8 seed Marat Safin.

Karlovic, who lost to Andy Roddick in the 2005 final, did not face a break point against Safin while missing all five break point opportunities on the Russian’s serve. The 6’10” Croat, who has produced 59 aces in his three matches so far this week, will face either fourth seed Novak Djokovic or Arnaud Clement in the quarterfinals.

Safin began the day by completing his rain-delayed second round match against two-time runner-up Sebastien Grosjean. With the scores level at a set apiece and 4-4 in the third overnight, Safin won all six points in the morning to claim a 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 victory.