The ‘number two’ is imposed in 123 minutes (6-4, 4-6, 6-2) and accesses the penultimate round, where on Saturday Daniil Medvedev will be measured.
Nadal’s forehand strike during his match against Tsitsipas.
One year after achieving a victory in front of him on the same stage that proved useless, Rafael Nadal I beat again Stefanos Tsitsipas in two hours and three minutes, and qualified for his sixth semifinals of the ATP Finals, which will be played tomorrow against the Russian Daniil Medvedev. The number two in the world put together a magnificent performance again, in the line that he maintains throughout the tournament. With only 30 games on his legs before London as a result of the pandemic that has taken much of the calendar, he arrived better than ever at the only major competition that still resists him. Fast, aggressive, firm with the serve, fine on the treadmill and with the traditional resistance to everything from the back of the court, he appears as favorite as the most to take the title. [Narracin y estadsticas (6-4, 4-6, 6-2)]
If the match against Dominic Thiem it was colossal on both sides of the net, it did not detract from last night, a joint exercise of precision and competitive ardor. It was the Spaniard who first suggested a breakthrough in the match, by creating two break balls in the seventh game. They were solved by the defender of the title, faithful to a defined script, who went through deploying all his resources at the limit of recklessness. A cheerful player, with the versatile character that his good results on different surfaces attest, he has almost everything to succeed.
He even enjoys the charisma that other peers of the next generation may lack. Has the aura of a romantic hero, Lord Byron in the 21st century armed with a racket. It just lacks stability. Nadal’s new attempt, at 4-4, ended with a double fault that cost the Greek the service and the set. Like Thiem, whom Nadal demanded the best game of his life, Tsitsipas needed a superb version of himself. As soon as you lose a modicum of effectiveness with the serve or sharpness in the wide angles by your crossed backhand, receive the punishment of the southpaw, severe, relentless. Nadal closed the set with a direct serve, the culmination of how he has been spending them lately with that blow.
Without lowering your guard
In this strange season for everyone, he continues to build his legend. He won his thirteenth title at Roland Garros and equaled 20 Grand Slam titles in Roger Federer. In Pars-Bercy, where he was a semifinalist, he entered the select club of players who have reached 1,000 victories on the circuit, by beating Feliciano Lopez on its debut. Before the pandemic, he left with the Acapulco cup.
Tsitsipas tried not to lose face to the game. Survived a ball of break in the first game of the second set and was solving as best he could the continuous threats from his opponent, who did not lower his guard at any time. While the Hellenic clenched his fist in celebration each time he took a game forward, Nadal handled his duty shifts with absolute neatness. So until the tenth game, where he paid hasty decisions. He went to the net with excessive eagerness and lost the serve and the set with a double fault.
Metabolize fatigue
Immune to misfortune, he soon regained command, breaking early in the third set. Tsitsipas didn’t panic, reluctant to hand over the spoon, breaking again next. But in the swing of the third set, the Spaniard held on better, able to metabolize fatigue. Tsitsipas comes and goes in matches. It can collapse unexpectedly like being reborn when no one else has it. We have an example of this sometimes cowardly attitude recently, in last Tuesday’s game against Andrey Rublev. After taking the first set in 17 minutes, he tangled until he faced a match point in the tiebreaker of the third, screwed up by the Russian with a double fault. He won, but he could well save the hot flashes.
This time he was more constant and involved in the confrontation, but Nadal consents very little. Thiem answered all the stakes. The Greek did not, deflated in the last heat of the fight, victim of the tenacious scourge of his adversary.
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