Novak Djokovic extended his winning streak against Rafael Nadal to six matches with a straight-set victory in the semifinals of the BNP Paribas Open on Saturday afternoon. Djokovic has now won 13 consecutive sets at Nadal’s expense, as well, following the 7-6(5), 6-2 decision. The world No. 1 booked his spot alongside Milos Raonic in the title match after one hour and 58 minutes.
If there is some good news for Nadal, it’s that this one was unlike their five most recent meetings in that he at least had a chance. In fact, the fourth seed had multiple opportunities in the opening set. He seized a break right away, and even after giving it back he eventually got a look at a set point with Djokovic serving down 30-40 at 4-5. But the Serb managed to hold and ultimately force a tiebreaker, at which point Nadal’s serve and forehand wavered.
Two breaks for Djokovic in the second frame of play were more than enough to seal the deal.
“I think I played well for a set and a half,” Nadal commented, “(and) then I think he played well the last. I played bad again with my serve [at] 3-2 (in the second), and then he finished playing well the last two games; played at (a) high level.”
Nadal hot shot:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j5AyUuq9zSI
Djokovic cracked 23 winners to Nadal’s 12 despite making only three more errors. The top seed managed to break on three occasions even though his opponent served at 80 percent.
“I’m just glad to overcome this challenge that is one of the greatest in sport, as (it) always is playing against Rafa,” Djokovic explained. “I’m taking the positives out of today’s performance and hoping that I can finish off this tournament tomorrow with another great performance.”
Although Nadal’s event has come to an end, it was still a productive fortnight–and one that could have ended much earlier. The Spaniard needed three sets to survive his opener against Gilles Muller and he even fought off a match point during a fourth-round thriller against Alexander Zverev.
“I think I played well during the week,” Nadal assessed. “I won very interesting matches–good ones, fighting. Today was closer than the last couple of times against the best player of (the) world, so (it) was a very positive week for me. [I’m] gonna try to follow this way, to keep going with this level. If I am able to play weeks in a row at this level, then you start to think about the chances to compete for everything.”
As for Djokovic, he will be competing for yet another winner’s trophy on Sunday against Raonic. The Canadian reached the final by holding off David Goffin 6-3, 3-6, 6-3.
[polldaddy poll=9354970]
decent match
Good fight by Goffin!
Enjoyed both matches.
Voted for Raonic in 3… Go Milosh!
Yes, I’m a Nole fan but he’s won so many of these masters – spread the love ?
Ricky, I posted one too many stat links on a post meant for the match thread; it went to moderation…oops.
Goffin is at the doubles final………..
Tell him hello… and I give him a hug from me 😀
Oxygen pods.
The scars inflicted by the humiliations Rafa has suffered at the hands of every Tom, Dick and Harry over the past 18 months will take time to heal. The signs are there that Rafa’s will to win has not deserted him.
He’s not quite out of the woods yet but where there’s the will, there’s a way.
Rafa played well for a set and slipped back to anxious patterns.too often in the second.
Still it was progress.
Rafa didn’t let Nole play like he did in Doha.
There is hope yet.
As Rafa says everybody is struggling against Nole.
Nole is only the second male player to have 25 wins against a rival in the modern era and can tie Rafa’s Masters record with a win today.
Rafa played decent ..saw the highlights..it was good progress..I think what let down Rafa latter half of 2nd is more the energy and legs ..not the strategy..I think the first 90 minutes extracted a lot out of him.
Still it was good progress compared to most other recent encounters between them on hard courts starting from China Open 2013 . In no hard court match had Rafa won more than 7 games..with 6 3 6 4 being the best Rafa could manage..and in some of those matches from China Open 2013 to Miami 2014..Rafa was not the Rafa of today. We can choose to be happy about yesterday.