"Can't wait to meet Rafael Nadal."
Karan Rastogi is moving on to bigger things. After winning the ITF Futures in New Delhi on Saturday, the Mumbai lad pulled off the biggest win of his career when he beat world number 106 Thiago Alves of Brazil in straight sets in the first round of the Chennai Open on Thursday.
Rastogi won 6-3, 6-4 to set up a second round clash with Nadal, who was a 6-4, 6-2 winner over Germany's Rainer Schuettler.
"Playing Nadal was obviously one of the incentives here," said an excited Rastogi after his victory.
"All my friends were talking about playing against him in the second round and it was at the back of my mind. Playing him on centre court at the Chennai Open under lights will be great. I will just go out there and have fun."
Rastogi, 20, was broken in the first game of the match, but he shook off the nerves and broke his opponent in the very next game. From then on it was a very close affair and both men struggled on their serve as the match saw 11 breaks.
"I was a little nervous to begin with, and neither of us have a big serve, but I guess I played more aggressively in the second set and went for my chances."
"There as been some talk that I've got too many wild cards for ATP tournaments, but I don't bother about that too much. I made use of the opportunity here."
Crowd favourite and fifth seed Carlos Moya made a bright start to his Chennai Open campaign, as he beat Germany's Alexander Waske in straight sets.
Moya, twice champion in the southern Indian city, beat Waske 7-6, 6-3 to set up a clash with America's Kevin Kim in the second round.
Earlier, sixth seed Fabrice Santoro progressed into the second round after his opponent, Czech David Skoch, pulled out due to a back injury. Skoch had back spasms in the first game of the match itself and decided he could not go on at 0-3 down even after medical assistance.
Santoro, who holds the record for winning the longest tennis match (6 hours 33 minutes against Arnaud Clement at the 2004 French Open), also suffered a back injury and was struggling to breathe but said he would continue playing if his opponent was up to it.
After the teaser in the doubles on Monday, Nadal was out in his brightest best, wearing a yellow sleeveless jersey and olive green pirate pants to see off an erratic Schuettler.
Though Schuettler tried to keep pace with the tenacious Mallorcan in the beginning, he faded out quickly. The Gerrman, a former Australian Open finalist, had a bad service day and didn't have any weapons to pierce Nadal's confidence.
Schuettler, who saved two break-points in the opening game, was the first to get the break when he won the seventh game to go into a 4-2 lead. A stunning forehand down the line set up the winning point for Schuettler, but Nadal came back with a vengeance and raced through the match. The Spaniard broke Schuettler at love in the eighth game and went to on win six straight games.
The German, who sprayed the ball all around, was hardly in the match as Nadal carried out the final burial in his own highflying style to give the crowd the worth for their money.
Results:
Fabrice Santoro bt David Skoch 3-0 (retd)
Bjorn Phau bt Olivier Patience 6-4, 6-4
Carlos Moya bt Alexander Waske 7-6, 6-3
Karan Rastogi bt Thiago Alves 6-3, 6-4
Rafael Nadal bt Rainer Schuettler 6-4, 6-2