David Goffin has made an impressive and hard-fought run through the Barcelona draw, but now he gets the toughest test in tennis: Rafael Nadal on clay. Saturday’s other semifinal pits Pablo Carreno Busta against Stefanos Tsitsipas.
(1) Rafael Nadal vs. (4) David Goffin
Nadal and Goffin will be facing each other for the fourth time in their careers when they battle for a spot in the final of the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell on Saturday. They squared off twice during the clay-court swing last season, when Nadal prevailed 6-3, 6-1 in the Monte-Carlo semifinals and 7-6(3), 6-2 in the Madrid quarters. The Spaniard almost improved to 3-0 lifetime in the head-to-head series at the Nitto ATP Finals despite the fact that he was playing on his least favorite surface (an indoor hard court) and with a knee injury that forced him out of the tournament after one match (Goffin ended up stumbling across the finish line 7-6(5), 6-7(4), 6-4).
Now Goffin has to go up against Nadal at the worst possible setting for his upset chances–on clay at a tournament where the current world No. 1 is a 10-time champion and owner of a 56-3 record. Nadal has extended his clay-court set streak to 42 in a row following wins this week over Roberto Carballes Baena, Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, and Martin Klizan. Goffin required almost seven hours of work during a trio of three-setters to book his place in the semifinals. The 10th-ranked Belgian erased set deficits against Marcel Granollers, Karen Khachanov, and Roberto Bautista Agut while improving his record for an injury-plagued 2018 campaign to 12-5. Even though Goffin’s comeback from an eye problem is gaining some nice momentum, nothing about Saturday’s matchup suggests it will be competitive.
Pick: Nadal in 2 losing 5-7 games
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Stefanos Tsitsipas vs. (5) Pablo Carreno Busta
Tsitsipas has announced his arrival on tour in 2018 and is quickly showing that–despite plenty of hard-court success–clay may end up being his favorite surface. The 19-year-old Greek, who advanced to quarterfinals in Doha and Dubai, kicked off the clay-court swing with a second-round performance in Monte-Carlo as a qualifier and he now finds himself in the Barcelona semifinals. Following solid clay-court defeats of Corentin Moutet, Diego Schwartzman, and Albert Ramos-Vinolas, Tsitsipas took things to a whole different level when he upset Dominic Thiem 6-3, 6-2 on Friday.
Up next for the world No. 63 is a first-ever meeting with Carreno Busta. The 11th-ranked Spaniard reached the French Open quarterfinals last spring and he is enjoying the kind of form that indicates he has a great chance of defending those quarterfinal points. Carreno Busta turned in a fourth-round finish in Indian Wells and a semifinal showing in Miami prior to this run in Barcelona. The No. 5 seed cruised past Benoit Paire, survived Adrian Mannarino 8-6 in a third-set tiebreaker, and ousted second-seeded Grigor Dimitrov 6-3, 7-6(4) in the quarters. This should be a highly-contested and high-quality battle, with a slight edge going to Tsitsipas due to his more convincing trek through the draw and his ability to dictate points with offensive tennis.
Pick: Tsitsipas in 3
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WYG?
GOAT in two!
Keep going Stefanos!! My vote is for him to make the final 😀
He’s up to #51 in the live ATP ranking after making the SF.
https://live-tennis.eu/en/atp-live-ranking
Of course, Rafa in 2.
Rafa and PCB in two.
Rafa in two losing 8-10 games and Tsitsipas in three
Agree with Lucky about PCB in 3. His level has risen steadily in the past year or so and he doesn’t panic when his back is against the wall. However Tsitsipas is the more exciting player to watch but PCB has the knack of drawing out UEs by his opponent.
RCB has met his match. The young Greek is the real McCoy. Even the top players are not going to relish seeing him in their part of the draw.
who?
Herbert obviously.
Rafa FTW in 2 sets.
Goffin in 3 and Carreno Busta in 2.
Not gonna happen when Rafa is fully fit.
Nope, But Rafa is not fully fit atm.
Why do you think he is not fully fit?
His balls were very short in the first couple of matches, and I don’t think he is playing his best, well, he might be fully fit, I actually meant I don’t he is playing his best here in Barcalona, but again, he is simple too good on clay, that even when he is not playing his best, it will still require the opponent to play one of the best matches in his career.
He is a legend on clay, that’s for sure.
I would say that Rafa may not be fully match fit yet. He was out for two months. But the DC matches helped him get some matches and wins under his belt. You can’t get the same felling in practice that you get in matches. But the more Rafa plays the better he is getting.
However, I think as far as health and fitness Rafa is looking good. The more he plays, the more he wins and maybe gets tested at times, the closer he will get to his best form on clay.
4 great players in the Semis (and one LEGEND!!)….am eager to see Tpas in person….soon!…Rafa in 2; Tpas in 2.
Real deal.
Hope Rafa has a good game plan against Tsitsipas – that is assuming he can deal with Goffin this afternoon.
Goffin is on a mission to be the player who breaks Rafa’s winning 2-set record.
It was a high quality set. I thought Goffin really played well.
Goffin came out playing really well. I was concerned when he broke Rafa right out of the gate. I think this first set is the toughest anyone has played Rafa so far.
Goffin forced Rafa to raise his level of plays I think these kinds of matches are good for Rafa. He needs to be pushed. I was concerned about the first serve stats for Rafa. At one point they showed Rafa winning in the high 50 % of his first serves with Goffin winning 71 %.
Rafa up a break now in the second set. I hope he can hold his serve.
An ace for Rafa to go up 3-0. I think maybe that first set took a lot out of Goffin. It takes a lot to stay with Rafa.
Goffin DF’s to give Rafa the second break. He seems to be done after playing a great first set.
Exactly NNY. Also Goffin is the one who is not fully fit and his other matches this week all went to 3 sets.
ed,
Good point. Goffin has had s tougher road to the semis. He is coming back from that eye injury. So he had one good set of tennis in him.
Rafa’s 2-set winning record remains intact!
I think he dragged out the final game hoping to spare poor Goffin the indignity of being handed a bagel.
Thought the predominantly Spanish spectators were very respectful towards Goffin.
PCB disappoints after beating Dimi; despite fighting back to 5-5 in the first set, he then lost meekly his service game and ended up losing the first set 7-5. From then on its Tsitsipas all the way.
I do feel PCB is a bit one dimensional, cant even compare to a 19 year old who has more game/varieties in his play.
I think many players are playing more attacking tennis even on clay instead of playing ttaditional clay court game of playing from well behind the baseline). I see Tsitsipas, Jaziri, Dimi, Klizan, RCB and Goffin doing that at Barcelona and they got good results.
Those Spaniards playing traditional clay court tennis fell by the way side; only Rafa who plays exceptional clay court tennis and mixing in some all coirt tennis continues to dominate.
I agree. Grinder players like Ramos-Vinolas and Carreno Busta are very dependent on forcing errors from the opponent, and when the opponent is playing well and not making too many mistakes, they are simple just less skilled, and as you say have less variety, which was perfectly displayed todays match. Dimitrov could and should have done the same, but simple made way too many unforced errors.
I’m disappointed esp. in Ramos -Vinolas , he had some good results but very little tactics . Just waits for errors .
Yes, puzzling why CB has good hardcourt (and doubles) results when he’s so passive on clay .
Even Mannarino, not a clay specialist at all, gave Busta a lot of trouble. Dimitrov knows should have won that match, hence why he was so pissed at the end.
Yeah, and even he had to play more aggressive on clay to stay ahead .
Video by the ATP: “Nadal Happy With ‘Best Match’ In Barcelona 2018”:
https://youtu.be/fqMn5B6gyxQ
Vamos Rafa!
Quotes from Rafa’s post-match press conference (in English on the 3rd page; scroll down):
https://www.barcelonaopenbancsabadell.com/sites/default/files/audios/pdf/rdp5_-_nadal_-_eng.pdf
Couldn’t watch the match unfortunately（checked the highlights),apparently it was a very good first set,with Goffin starting at a very high level and Rafa raising his game to get the first set.In the second set,Goffin level dropped a bit and Rafa decimated him.
I really hope that Rafa can mantain the level of his BH right now,he’s being able to set up the points with it,flattening it superbly and consequently shorten the points. What a difference from the prior 2017 BH,when Rafa only used that stroke as a neutral one,mainly with a defensive character.
Gaviria,
Rafa is hitting his backhand amazingly well. That is a very good sign. It opens up the court and gives him more options and makes it harder for his opponents. I also think Rafa’s movement was exceptional.
Goffin came out seemingly intent on getting the upset win. He played really well in that first set. I was surprised when Rafa was broken in his first service game. But he responded to the challenge from Goffin quite well. It’s good that Rafa is getting pushed more. When he does then he responds by raising his level and coming up with superb shots.
Rafa seemed pleased with how he played today in his post match comments. He ought to know! 😀
Yeah,definitely it’s good for Rafa to be tested and it’s great to see that he’s holding up his level when the scoreline gets tight and the tension increases.
I think he can be even more dangerous on the North American HC season this year,if he stays healthy of course.
Great first set of tennis between Rafa and Goffin. Goffin was clearly fatigued by his previous matches, but I think there is something else going on with him, which I mentioned at last year’s WTF: he just is mentally weak and gets a bit nervy when the going gets tough. This is the second year in a row at MC that he came out and played lights out tennis from the start. Nadal was actually playing well, but Goffin was better. His crisp hitting and sharp angles were very reminiscent of Novak at his best on clay and really had Rafa on the back foot in the first few games.
But Goffin didn’t keep up with that game plan. He started hitting his shots with much less pace, more topspin and less deep in the court. Some of that was Nadal raising his game, some was fatigue setting in, but I’m convinced that a big part of it is just in Goffin’s head. If he can get over that hump and get his fitness up a bit he can be one of the very best in the world, at least on HC and clay.
The difference between the two players was clear in the last two games of the 1st set. Serving at 4-4, Nadal played a perfect game, hitting some unbelievable shots when Goffin put him under pressure. Serving at 4-5, Goffin missed 3 fairly routine forehands to gift Nadal the set. And that’s mostly down to nerves and lack of confidence, imo.
Er… they’re playing at Barcelona, not MC this year. Anyway, it’s not so much about Goffin but more about Rafa!
RCB hit and played better than Goffin in my opinion vs Rafa, in R2 yet he came out short both sets. Rafa allows his opponents to play their game and then thinks of ways to counterpunch and solves the problems at hand. Rafa certainly is not a first strike player hence his aggressive opponents seem to have the upper hand, until Rafa figures out their game and counterattack’s them.
PS. Rafa is different from Fed; I remember Fed during his heydays would figure out his opponents ‘ game and then played their game to beat them at their own game!