Once again Rafael Nadal tames a very strong Grigor Dimitrov in China. Last week, the world no.1 defeated Grigor in 3 sets in the Beijing semi-final; this week, Rafa repeats himself in the quarterfinals in Shanghai with another sensational performance.

The match

Even if Rafa looked stronger in most of the rallies, Dimitrov managed to hang on for the entire match. In the first set, the only difference between Rafa and Grigor was a break in the 9th game before Nadal won the opener 6-4. Even if the world no.1 appeared to be superior also in the second set, Dimitrov managed to bring the affair to the breaker that the Bulgarian won at 4 after Nadal committed 2 uncharacteristic unforced errors. Nadal started strong in the 3rd set, and he conquered the decisive break in the 6th game (4-2) before holding serve and consolidate the lead (5-2). Eventually, the Spaniard won the contest 6-4 6-7 (4) 6-3 after 2 hours and 32 minutes.

We played at very high levels. NADAL

Rafa was extremely happy with both the result and his performance to say

“It was a very tough match. I think both of us, we played at a very high level of tennis. The conditions, of course, have been different today than my two previous matches. 

I think it was a great battle between two players who are playing all the time very focused, very intense points all the time. I think both of us served very well during the whole match, so yeah, it was decided on just a few balls, and anything can happen.”

The semis vs. Cilic

Rafa will face Marin Cilic in the semi-final. The head to head is 4-1 for Nadal that has disintegrated Marin early this year in the Acapulco semi-final 6-1 6-2.