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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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!