What a match! Both Rafa and Nole played at their very best to end up this epic only after 4 hours and 37 minutes.
After exchanging the first 2 sets Rafa made a strong move in the third set when he conceded only 12 points to Nole (not easy stuff) to win the set 6-1.
The King of Clay gave the impression to everybody that he was on his way to win the 4th set when he was a break up a couple of times to even serve for the match when he was 5-4 up. But Nole is like a cat… he has countless lives… The Serb broke Rafa again to bring the set to the tiebreak and win it at 3.
In the 5th set it was Rafa to have a “near death” experience. The world no.4 had to recover a 0-2 deficit during a stint when Nole was all over the places. The world no.1 was just going for the jugular. The King of Clay managed to hang tough to win the decider 9-7 and grab his 8th final in Paris
From Rafa
“Well, for me personally, the semi-finals of Olympics was very a emotional one for me in Beijing,” said Rafa.
“The final of the 2012 Australian Open was another very emotional one for me. Last year, the final here was very special. The US Open 2010 final was a big moment for me.
“This one is a special one. But it is not the final; it’s a semi-final. That makes a difference. If we talk about everything that makes a match big, today we had all of these ingredients. But I think it was toughest in Australia if we talk about physical performance.”
From Nole
“It’s not the first, it’s not the last loss in my career against this particular player,” said Nole.
“I wanted this title so much, so I am disappointed. That’s it. That’s the way I feel.
I don’t think it’s going take the toll on me in the future because I have been in these particular situations before. So hopefully I can use this next period that is coming up to recover, mentally get motivated and get inspired again to play my best tennis in Wimbledon.”
Next vs. Ferrer
Rafa will play the final against his friend and fellow countryman David Ferrer. Head to head is 19-4 for Rafa. 16-1 on clay. Ferrer beat Rafa on clay only the first time they played each other in 2004.
