Rafael Nadal has been facing unexpected opponents much of the way at the Abierto Mexicano Telcel–with the lone exception being soon-to-be world No. 1 Daniil Medvedev in the semifinals.
The trend will continue in Saturday night’s final, as Nadal prepares to battle Cameron Norrie for the title. Norrie emerged from a bottom half of the draw that included No. 2 seed Alexander Zverev and No. 3 Stefanos Tsitsipas. Carlos Alcaraz was also supposed to be in there, but he withdrew after capturing the Rio de Janeiro title last week.
In fact, Alcaraz would have been Norrie’s first-round opponent in a showdown between recent champions (the 12th-ranked Brit lifted the trophy in Delray Beach this past Sunday). Norrie instead opened with Daniel Altmaier, whom he defeated 7-6(5), 6-2. The left-hander went on to knock off John Isner, Peter Gojowyczk, and Tsitsipas while surrendering just one set to Tsitsipas in the process.
Nadal’s projected round-one opponent (Reilly Opelka) also pulled out. Of course, given how the 35-year-old Spaniard played against Medvedev it probably doesn’t matter at all who is on the other side of the net right now. Nadal has also disposed of Denis Kudla, Stefan Kozlov, and Tommy Paul, and only one set this week has been more competitive than 6-3 (a second-set tiebreaker against Paul).
Can Norrie make it any more interesting than the 21-time major champion’s previous opponents? Probably not. The 26-year-old is 0-3 in the head-to-head series, 0-8 in total sets, and zero sets have required a tiebreaker. All three meetings came last season, too, when Norrie was playing the best tennis of his career.
Count on Nadal capping off a dominant run in Acapulco without too much trouble.
Pick: Nadal in 2
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Yes, congrats Rafa for a fourth title at Acapulco, but not without some nerve!
What is it that Rafa keeps losing serve when serving for the match – at the AO final and also now? I hope he can overcome this problem in future, no more unnecessary scare like this please Rafa!
Amen to that! At least he had an insurance break this time. Really Rafa served very well throughout most of the match. Happy to see him holding the “pear” and wearing that sombrero again. I liked the dark red one they used in 2013 better than this black one though.
Vamos Rafa! On to Indian Wells!!!
Vamos Rafa! 15 straight hardcourt victories in a row and 3 titles, beating the world 2 and prospective wrold #1 twice.
I doubt this will take him out of the “Rafa can’t play on hardcourt” pigeon hole he’s been put in.
A fit Rafa is also the King of hardcourt.
Vamos!
This pigeon hole you speak of is just a convenience excuse by Federer apologists. Rafa was always good on hard court its just because he was so dominant on clay and his injuries inhibited his ability to acquire more slams on hard court which is quite unfortunate. His results on hard court thus far would make the majority of tennis players blush.
Happy that Rafa won this title, just woke up and decided to look up results, vamos!!
He has done US open series sweep in 2013.. Nole, Federer never did..
Monalisa, you’re right. It was all about preserving Federer’s image as the greatest thing since sliced bread.
They also give the impression that if the court is fast then Rafa is at a disadvantage because if the ball has to bounce high or he stands no chance. Rafa has said that he prefers fast hardcourts and his results have proved it but to deaf ears.
Rafael Nadal: ‘I play better on fast than slow hard court’
JANUARY 7, 2020 22:40
by JOVICA ILIC
https://www.tennisworldusa.org/tennis/news/Rafael_Nadal/82514/rafael-nadal-i-play-better-on-fast-than-slow-hard-court-/
Vamos Rafa!
Another title! 🏆🎈🎊🎉
This one was kind of nerve wracking.
Congratulations to the #4 player! Undefeated!
He should try Miami this year..
Very many congratulations to Rafa and his fans! Defying age and injury, just fabulous!
And so pleased for Cam, keep knocking on that door and hopefully it will open. Very close to top 10 now so fingers crossed for him. Not the most charismatic player but a real work horse.
Mona Lisa, yes, Rafa has always been good on hardcourt. As a teenager he won his first match against Roger – on a hardcourt! As a teenager he also won his first Canadian open title against Agassi, who has been considered to be one of the best hardcourt players. But as they say, you cannot see the moon when he sun shines brightly. Rafa’s clay trophies are the sun, and his 6 hardcourt and 2 Wimby trophies, as well as his impressive number of hardcourt Masters trophies are like a bright full moon – big and beautiful, but sometimes hard to see because of the sun. But even if we take away all of Rafa’s clay titles, he would still be a legend like Becker, Agassi or Edberg. During Rafa’s long career only Fed and Djokovic have a better hardcourt record. And since 2017 Rafa has won four FO and and three hardcourt slams, as well as a bunch of masters on clay and hardcourt. This is hardly lopsided! Only indoor hardcourt is a set-up where Rafa struggles for various reasons.
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littlefoot, spot on. Rafa’s hardcourt performance is judged up against his clay dominance.
Its a bit confusing but my understanding is that the fast hardcourt thing is more about the bounce not the speed.
A slow hardcourt can be dead and low bouncing , but a fast court can be either low or high bouncing – the indoor courts bounce low why they dont suit Rafa .Its how they respond to his spin that matters. At least thats my understanding.
Certainly a court that bounces high for Rafa’s topspin is an asset. But he always does well in Acapulco, which, since 2014 when they went to hard was a fast court that favored the big servers. Rafa won there in 2020 v Fritz Taylor. But he lost the final to Querrey one year and the next lost to Kyrgios in his first match. This year there was a new stadium and the court was said to be slow but gritty so it took the topspin well.
Usa new York courts are faster and High bouncing and rafa has always done well there, so has he in Toronto .. Australia I think is medium n low bounce isn’t it ?
Slow n low bounce- surely ATP finals
Slow n high bounce – IW,Miami
Fast n low bounce – Australia
Fast n high bounce – Toronto, New York
Ricky – is my categorization right?
The year Querrey won it he said the bounce was perfect for him so not high bounce .This year AO they said it was grittier than previous .
AO 2017 was super fast with low bounce, more like an indoor court… Federer(won) and Venus was the finalist on women side..