Rafael Nadal will look to win back-to-back hard-court Masters 1000 events when he takes the court on Sunday in Cincinnati. Standing in his way is surprising finalist John Isner.
Rafael Nadal and John Isner will be going head-to-head for the fourth time in their careers when they clash in the final of the Western & Southern Open on Sunday afternoon. They have not faced each other since 2011, when Nadal survived a first-round French Open thriller 6-4, 6-7(2), 6-7(2), 6-2, 6-4. The Spaniard also took came out on top in a pair of 2010 encounters; 7-5, 3-6, 6-3 at the Indian Wells Masters and 7-5, 6-4 on the clay courts of Madrid.
Nadal, of course, is in rare hard-court form at the moment. He is 15-0 on the surface this season, with Masters titles in Indian Wells and last week in Montreal. In fact, other than his well-documented hiccup at Wimbledon, Nadal has been on fire just about everywhere. The third-ranked Spaniard 52-3 for the year following Cincinnati scalps of Benjamin Becker, Grigor Dimitrov, Roger Federer, and Tomas Berdych.
This is a matchup between two of the hottest players on tour, as Isner is up to his usual tricks–and even exceeding them–on U.S. hard courts. After reaching a grass-court semifinal in Newport, the 22nd-ranked American took home the title from Atlanta and finished runner-up to Juan Martin Del Potro in Washington, D.C. It has only gotten better for Isner in Cincinnati. His road to the final features three Top 10 scalps (Milos Raonic, Novak Djokovic, and Del Potro) in addition to straight-set dismissals of Florian Mayer and Richard Gasquet. Isner is 32-18 for his 2013 campaign, including 28-9 in the United States and 21-2 in his last 23 matches on home soil.
“Nobody likes to play against a player who you will not have a chance to be on rhythm most of the time,” Nadal explained. “John is this kind of player. He should be fighting for the Masters, for the Top 10. With his serve, advantage is huge. He’s playing well, mentally, and making the right decisions in important moments.
“It’s the kind of match that the only thing you can try is what is in your hands. What is in your hands is serve well and play solid from the baseline and play aggressive.”
The world No. 1 had been serving extremely well this week until he double-faulted six times–all in the second set–against Berdych. If Nadal cleans that up, he should have an edge in this one. He has dropped only one set (the first to Federer) in Cincinnati, whereas Isner is coming off consecutive emotional three-setters that lasted a combined five hours and 11 minutes. The underdog can level the playing field and keep it competitive with monster serves and forehands, but capping off his remarkable run with a win over Nadal may be too much to ask.
Pick: Nadal 7-6(6), 6-3
[polldaddy poll=7329252]
RAFA IS THE BEST!
#VAMOS
Vamoss Rafa.
No 9 of the year
No 2 of the world
5 Masters ina yaer (tied with Djoko)
26 Masters
Only player to win a slam 8 times
Only player to win a slam/year 9 consecutive years
Go Rafa Go 🙂
Congrats All Rafans :-). Did not see the match, it wasn’t telecast here in India live, but seein 2 tiebreaks and the 1st one 10-8..I wonder how many hearts sank and how people who saw it coped with the nerves 🙂
RT @juanjo_sports: “Also, how hilarious is it that Nadal has won more Masters 1000 on hard court than on clay this year?”
Take that, haters!
ritb; your wasting your breath darling. The haters can’t respond here 🙂
Oh Happy Days……………..
Oh, almost forget, congratulations to the new world No.2!!!!! Match by match we will get there!!!! VAMOS!!!!
Really happy to have got the scoreline prediction well and truly wrong earlier today. lol.
So much was said and written about Djokovic’s record breaking winning streak in 2011 but it pales into insignificance in comparison with Rafa’s phenomenal achievements since his comeback after being side-lined for those seven long, dark months.
So hilarious how Rafa position his self when receiving, he is almost at the audience and he has to jump to return the ball. I said this is mismatch (of height) for it looks like Isner is serving at the top of a ladder haha. It’s good Rafa get through and win the tournament. This is much harder i think that those Rafa 3 set matches in the previous rounds.
Please God, can you place Ferru in Rafa’s half at USOpen 2013? About time Djoker was made to sweat about a draw, no?
if he’s only wearing blue then you might think Isner is serving to one of the ball boys hahaha. Can’t sleep the adrenaline is still so high. I’ll just wait for 3 more hours and i’ll proceed to work.This is the effect when Rafa is playing (at finals) I can’t ignore and must watch it win or lose.
Nice to see you all around here Rafans.
if rafa can win USO and the year as no.1, this would be the greatest year ever in my opinion..even with 2 slams, it would be the greatest for me…coming back after SEVEN months, my goodness this guy , is he really human?lol
2240 points ahead of djokovic in the atp race..winning USO would almost ensure year end no.1 …. come to think of it, regaining world no.1 without playing a grand slam and WTF? I mean, WTF ! impossible feats out there in rafa’s sights
He needs to somehow make 2000 points more rest of the year and take his point tally to 11000.
He holds records of 5 Masters with Djoko but guess what Shanghai is stll left, you never know he can win it and hold the record alone 🙂
just phenomenadal 😀 guys did you see that smash return winner! that was just awesome!
@ritb, i join you in the prayers ! PLEASE ! i want a djo muzz semi…and then a rafa muzz final !!
yes rafaelo, that was the shot of the tournament ! federer hit a similar shot against davydenko once… but rafa did it on ISNER’s overhead lol
i think federer hit once against roddick 😉
Murray or Ferrer on his side is far from the most important part of the draw
If you go to this link you will see a table of the Race points. You have to scroll down:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2013_ATP_World_Tour_Finals
yeah rafaelo, that one from fed was the most difficult one and it was a clear winner..i mentioned the davy shot because it was very similar to this one…fed also hit this kind of shot against djo at USO 2009 for a lob winner
you may use this nadline… http://live-tennis.eu/race
the keys to Nadal’s draw are, not in order:
1) don’t get Gulbis as his nearest seed (third round)
2) don’t get Isner as his Top 16 seed (fourth round)
3) don’t get Del Potro as his Top 8 seed
4) get Federer in Djokovic’s quarter
And Get Ferrer in his Draw???
that would help but nowhere near highest priority. Nadal would take care of Murray or Ferrer in the semis.
i dont want isner/JJ in rnd 4 , and fed/del po in qtr and andy in semi…those are my requirements 😀
congrats to the SIX of 144 people who picked Nadal in 2 with 2 tiebreakers!
Yes Murray in Djoko half, Fed in Djoko qtr, no DElpo in Rafas qtr, no Gulbis in Round 3, no JI/JJ in Round 4..perfect wishlist 🙂
No Isner in Rafa’s quarter………please.
yea i agree with you guys, no JJ/gulbis/delpo/isner…haha
Rafans, my new screen saver:
https://twitter.com/alvarorama/status/369189845815414784/photo/1