Rafael Nadal has played an astonishing semi-final in Madrid against Novak Djokovic. Even if the world no.2 was clearly struggling with his performance, the Spaniard wasn’t sure about the outcome of the match also because before yesterday he had a negative record against the Serbian (23-26), and Nadal was not beating him since 2014.
Eventually, the Madrid semi-final was about to become a carnage with Nadal grabbing a fast 4-0 lead in just 20 minutes, and the Serbian looked to be completely out of options. Djokovic managed to win a couple of games, but it was the Mallorcan to win the opener 6-2. Rafa got a quick 2-0 lead also in the second set, but finally Djokovic fought back (2-2), but Nadal managed to put some distance in between once again (4-2). Finally, Nadal won the match 6-2 6-4 after he scored 65 points vs. Djokovic’s 48.
Why Nadal deserved to win. DJOKOVIC
After the match, Nole admitted that the Spaniard was too good to comment
“Rafa was obviously a better player today. He deserved to win. He was controlling the game from beginning to the end. His quality was very high, and he managed to do whatever he wanted, especially in the first set. He did get the better of me in most of the stats today, most of the shots.
I tried my best. It wasn’t a very high quality of tennis from my side. I made a lot of unforced errors, especially in the first set, said Djokovic, “I felt like I was playing well throughout the week. I could have played better today. But, again, I just had an opponent that was too good. It’s just one of these days where your opponent is playing better than you, and you have to be able to say ‘congratulations’ and move on.”
The final vs. Thiem
Rafa will face Dominic Thiem in the final. The head to head is 3-1 for Rafa that has defeated the Austrian two weeks ago in the Barcelona final 6-4 6-1.
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