Rafael Nadal is almost there… again!
The King of Clay is now 1 step from winning his 11th Roland Garros after another excellent performance against Juan Martin Del Potro in the semifinal.
The match
Rafa was the overwhelming favorite to win the contest against the Argentine. In fact, besides all his strengths on the dirt, Nadal had many options against the Tower of Tandil that he is used to struggling when chasing drop shots and when he is wrong-footed. In addition, Juan Martin’s monstrous forehand is less effective on clay so the world no.6 could not rely 100% on his most reliable weapon.
However, Del Potro managed to stay with Rafa for the entire opening set till the very last game when Rafa conquered the decisive break to win the first set 6-4.
That was already game over: Rafa conquered the following 5 games before winning the 2nd set easily (6-1). Del Potro didn’t manage to stop the bleeding and Nadal also cruised in the 3rd set to win the match 6-4 6-1 6-2.
I had to play with more intensity. NADAL
Soon after the match, Rafa explained how he managed to win the match to say
“He was serving big and hitting the first shots strong. It was very difficult to stop that.
I was not serving that well, and I was not creating spaces on the court. When I started playing really well, and with more intensity, I managed to win the two sets.”
The final vs. Thiem
Rafa will face Dominic Thiem in the final. The head to head is 6-3 for the Spaniard 2-all in the last 2 matches. Nadal is the favorite to win the title, but Thiem has definitely a shot at it.
| SOME MORE HISTORY ON THE WAY? |
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