Rafael Nadal made a mockery of the Abierto Mexicano Telcel draw’s bottom half, but his final opponent from the other side of the bracket is nothing short of a shock.
No matter than Querrey famously took down Novak Djokovic at Wimbledon last summer. Acapulco’s top half not only included Djokovic, but was also home to Dominic Thiem, David Goffin, Nick Kyrgios, and Juan Martin Del Potro. But it is Querrey who emerged thanks to victories over Kyle Edmund, Goffin, Thiem, and Kyrgios. The 40th-ranked American ousted Kyrgios 3-6, 6-1, 7-5 in the semifinals, one day after Kyrgios upset Djokovic 7-6(9), 7-5.
“Sam is playing great,” Nadal assured. “He’ll be coming into the match with a lot of confidence.”
Querrey can be confident in his current form, but not much about his past history against Nadal is encouraging. Although Nadal has defeated Sunday’s opponent only once in straight sets, he is sweeping the head-to-head series 4-0 overall. Their most recent meeting was the most lopsided of the four, with Nadal cruising 6-4, 6-2 last spring on the clay courts of Madrid.
The world No. 6 has made similarly light work of all challengers this week. He punched his ticket to the title match by beating Mischa Zverev, Paolo Lorenzi, Yoshihito Nishioka, and Marin Cilic. Nishioka managed to force one tiebreaker, but Lorenzi and Cilic combined for a futile five games in four sets against Nadal. The Spaniard is now 12-2 this season, including a runner-up performance at the Australian Open, and 14-0 lifetime in Acapulco (4-0 on hard courts).
“It just gets tougher from here because Rafa has been playing great all year,” Querrey admitted. “So I’m going to talk with my coach and leave it all out on the court.”
There are no secrets about what Querrey must do from a tactical standpoint: serve huge and at a high percentage, dictate rallies with his forehand, and keep points short. But executing that plan against Nadal is easier said than done; just ask Cilic, whose style is similar to–and often better than–that of Querrey.
Pick: Nadal in 2 losing more than 8 games
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who ya got?
Nadal in 2. 6-2, 6-4
probably a good pick
Nadal in three. Querrey is balling and Nadal will have pressure to win his first hard court title since Doha 2014. Plus Querrey has taken sets off of Rafa in three of their four meetings. I still gotta go with the determined Spaniard but I don’t think this will be an easy one for him especially with Querrey’s serve and confidence at the moment.
Sam said “the ball bounces right into my strike zone on these courts,so i am very comfortable playing here,it’s just get tougher from here because rafa playing great all year,so i’m going to talk to my coach and leave it all out on court”….
IMO,here it is a very big possibility of another ‘Fognini,Verdasco,Pouille,Dustin Brown,Nick,Darcis,Rosol’…they’re all an underdog who’s going out there with a mindset ‘hey,i’ve nothing to lose..no pressure on me whatsoever,let’s party rafa!”…and that mindset usually will be accompanied by a very aggressive tennis that the only target is to make a winner all over the court..very very dangerous..and sam with his big serve and big groundstrokes admittedly do have a big advantage and rafa’s style of play didn’t help either…if he nervous,then he will start throwing a short ball the entire match,make it easier for sam to execute his gameplan…
BUT,Fognini,Verdasco,etc etc happened when rafa at his lowest but NOW rafa is much more stronger mentally and physically….so,even if he’s struggle to sort sam out at first,i believe he WILL in the end….So..rafa in 2 or 3 depends how quickly he can manage his nervousness and get his confidence back….VAMOS RAFA!!WOOOOHOOOO!!!
Think it was Tracy Austin or Lindsey Davenport commenting about Querrey on TC a few weeks ago saying he can easily hang out around top 20-40 but if he gets his confidence and motivation going he can get inside top 20.
Verdasco could be top 10 if he had the consistency and confidence. Querrey and Verdasco are both inside the top 30, 29 and 28, respectively right now. Both are looking good.
But Verdasco just lost rather tamely 63, 62 to Andy Murray to win his first Dubai title. Querrey might do a little better v Rafa but not much.
Rafa in 2 losing 8 games or fewer.
As far as style goes, I put Querrey in the same bracket as Cilic, Berdych & Del Potro with Del Potro being the best of them all.
Querrey is playing very well right now. He has the big serve, first strike tennis. He can go out there with no pressure. Rafa knows exactly what he has to do – serve well and not give up a break because that could mean the set. I hope he will hit his DTL and cc backhands the way he did against Cilic. Rafa will want to get into baseline rallies and try to wear Querrey down.
Big servers can be challenging, but rafahas shown that he is capable of handling them. This is a confident Rafa who will go into this final. His mental strength should serve him well.
I am thinking it will be 2 sets with Rafa losing more than 8 games. If Rafa’s serving is off or if he’s not sharp than Querrey might push it to 3 sets.
If i pick the under 9.5 in the first set between S. Querry and R. Nadal at 2.02 odd would that be a wise pick or should i pick nadal in 2 at 1.55.
Honestly i don’t want to pick nadal, i would rather avoid this match.
What’s your pick?
Sam might be worth a punt at 5.00.
Nadal in 2 at 1.55. I would take over 9.5.
Keep your mind focused, remain confident, be strong and fight bravely, Rafa!
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C6GOZbHXMAEaoSY.jpg
Rafa in two
2 Or 3 dont care, as long as Rafa wins ….
I have already placed my bets b4 I read your comments.
I play different slips with different picks to increase my chances of winning.
In the first slip I picked Rafael nadal to win 1 set & match at 1.40 odd, I don’t trust him in straight sets.
In the second slip I went with the under 9.5 in the first set at 2.10, I know Sam querrey is serving well and it could go over, but the over has disappointed me in this tournament.
I normally take the over when you have 2 players that can hold serve but this time I want to play the opposite of what I would play, I know that sounds a little bit crazy.
In the other slips I avoided this match and went with WTA doubles in Mexico A. Rodionova & D. Jurak have won so that’s good am waiting for my baby kiki(Kristina mladenovic) and my NBA picks.
I want ask a question why is there no advantage in doubles when they are at 40:40(deuce) who ever wins the next point wins.
There is ‘Advantage’ in doubles just as there is in singles. The rules are the same.
ATP tour doubles was shortened some years ago in an attempt to attract more singles players and more fans. There’s a “deciding” point at 40 all, winner takes the game. If each team wins a set the match is decided by a 10 point tiebreak instead of a third set.
ITF doubles (Slams and Davis Cup) are still played by the old rules, although I believe only Wimbledon and DC play 5 set doubles matches.
nadal in 2 with one really close.
I also burn my slips sometimes and this is what I mean by burning my slips for example let’s say you want to play 4 slips and you have 400 bucks so 100 bucks each, you have to make sure the potential winning in each slip is more than 400 bucks so that when you win you know you have recovered your money and also made some profit.
Some people aim for 10 odds in total, other’s target more than 10. If you win 100 × 10= 1000 + bonuses depending on the site you use, you have made more than 600 in profit.
Please believe me it is easier said than done, if you don’t bet plzzzzz don’t just enjoy the game.
Yesterday I picked kiki(Kristina mladenovic) to defeat Christina mchale in the first slip with other games as well, she won.
In the second slip I went with the over 9.5 in the 1 set it came through.
In the third slip I picked kiki to win 1 set & match she won.
In the fourth slip I picked Christina McHale to win just in case kiki doesn’t win.
This is what burning a slip means you go with your favorite picks in 2 or more slips in the last slip you pick the opposite of the match you don’t trust just in case it doesn’t come through.
Sometimes it backfires you might be confident that R. Federer would defeat Evgeny donskoy so you pick him in all your slips when he loses you lose all your slips if you don’t change some options like taking the over/the under or picking different options just to be safe.
You just have to be careful!
You are welcome,
Stanley.
Luke,
Examine the doubles in ATP- Brazil (Sao Paulo) and Mexico (Acapulco).
Also check the WTA doubles in Mexico (Acapulco) you would notice that there is no advantage when the deuce 40:40.
You would also notice that simple stanley supports fascism.
Sam Querrey was such a dark horse his name wasn’t even in the “WWW Acapulco” poll.
Vamos Rafa!
Rafa needs to hold his nerves in the 2nd sets and be more aggressive…C’mon rafa!!
Rafa start to change his position to receive sam’s serves…moving much closer to the baseline in order to be aggressive,contrary to the 1st set..he applied this tactics against Raonic at AO…hope it will work too this time..
I said that if Rafa lost his serve it would mean losing the set. Rafa was struggling with his ROS in the first set.
Querrey came out playing well and serving well. He seemed to be ready and relaxed, since he wasn’t expected to be there.
This is nerve wracking.
Yeah Nny…that’s the advantage of being an underdog…and his serve!My God!save him so many times in crucial moment…but rafa also got 5 BP at 4 3 in 2nd sets but didn’t take that golden chance…u can’t afford to waste that much chance against a big server…it may cost u a match…
Tennis is such a joke sometimes.
Back to MMA for me.