Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic are one round away from a potential blockbuster semifinal in Monte-Carlo. They first have to get past Diego Schwartzman and David Goffin, respectively, in Friday’s quarterfinals.
Diego Schwartzman vs. (4) Rafael Nadal
It was a tale of two matches for Nadal as he heads into quarterfinal action at the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters on Friday. The seventh-ranked Spaniard struggled in a 6-0, 5-7, 6-3 opening win over Kyle Edmund but picked up the pace dramatically to destroy Alexander Zverev 6-1, 6-1 on Thursday. The latter result is more along the lines of what can be expected from Nadal in Monte-Carlo, where he is 60-4 lifetime with nine titles. This week’s fourth seed is 21-5 in 2017 and 21-2 against opponents other than Roger Federer.
Up next for Nadal on Friday is a third career meeting with Schwartzman, who is 0-2 in the head-to-head series. The Argentine went down 6-2, 6-2 on the hard courts of Acapulco in 2013 and 7-6(5), 6-3, 7-5 at the 2015 U.S. Open. Playing the best tennis of his life right now, Schwartzman is up to a career-high ranking of No. 41 in the world and he will climb to at least 34th next week. So far in Monte-Carlo he has taken out Bernard Tomic, Roberto Bautista Agut, and Jan-Lennard Struff in straight sets. At just 5’7”, Schwartzman obviously cannot serve Nadal off the court and he is forced to hit shots consistently outside of his strike zone against Nadal’s heavy topspin. If nothing else, however, the underdog will make this an entertaining baseline battle.
Pick: Nadal in 2 losing more than 7 games
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(10) David Goffin vs. (2) Novak Djokovic
Djokovic and Goffin will be going head-to-head for the sixth time in their careers on Friday. All five of their previous encounters have gone Djokovic’s way and he is 11-1 in total sets against Goffin. Their most memorable showdown came at the 2015 Cincinnati Masters, where the Belgian led by a double-break at 3-0 in the third set and then failed to win another game in a 6-4, 2-6, 6-3 defeat. They most recently faced each other at last year’s World Tour Finals, with Goffin taking an injured Gael Monfils’ place for one match and promptly getting blown out 6-1, 6-2.
It has hardly been one-way traffic for Djokovic so far in Monte-Carlo. The 2013 and 2015 champion escaped Gilles Simon 6-3, 3-6, 7-5 after Simon served for the match and he outlasted Pablo Carreno Busta 6-2, 4-6, 6-4 on Thursday. Such struggles do not come as a significant surprise given the Serb’s lackluster form (14-3 in 2017 with only one title in Doha) and an elbow injury that forced him out of Miami. Goffin is 21-7 this season following impressive clay-court wins this week over Nicolas Almagro and Dominic Thiem. Against the very best players in the world, however, Goffin often gets overpowered or breaks down on his own serve–or both. He also clearly lacks belief against Djokovic, so an easier time at the office than he what he endured in rounds two and three should be in store for the No. 2 seed.
Pick: Djokovic in 2
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One hold in first four games.
Nadal has gotta take the title. If he doesn’t, that will be crazy. Goffin could pose some problems, but he should still be able to get by him.
Rafa applying the pressure hard – determined to break this game and get the set. lol
There it is!!
rc..if rafa win MC,you’re going to win the Bracket…and u can kick my backside to your heart content!!hehehe..
Finally! 😀
Hehehe..hope you’re doing well in Barcelona as well rc!When the draw will be out rc?Tomorrow??
Yes, draw should be out soon for ATP and WTA…it’s Fed Cup this weekend but I’m busy tomorrow at a protest march 😀 No time to sit still these days but I’ll get the brackets picked.
It was a good sign that they were breaking each other! That meant both have breakable serves! So advantage Rafa as he is very good at defending break points!
Having a very breakable serve is never a good sign.
Hope this helps.
Well Rafa won. My logic , unlike yours, is impeccable
#hawkeyeneedshelpwithlogic
Rafa played barely well enough to beat the No. 41 player.
As I said already, happy for the win (but not how he got there).
(Sorry you can’t keep it about tennis but understandable, because my tennis analysis, unlike yours, is impeccable.)
#maryneedshelpwithtennisanalysis
hawkeye losing his touch with tennis analysis. If two players have breakable serves, the one who is better at defending break points wins.
#NotRocketScience
#hawkeyefeelingHisYears
Not about the match result Mary as I’ve already explained. It’s about his form going forward.
As I said, happy for the win and the chance for MC No. 10 (but not his level of play).
Too bad you have to resort to personal attacks. You shouldn’t concern yourself personally with how I think Rafa played.
5 out of 10 games held in the first set with Rafa broken twice LOL.
Glad I’m not watching this.
This Diego guy really hits so hard! Average ground stroke speed is 124 kph, 5 over Rafa’s! Thankfully Rafa wins the first set; I hope he’s calm now and and breaks down Diego’s game.
Rafa always hits to opponent’s BH and now he often gets burnt by their hard hitting I/O CC FH. He should think of hitting to opponent’s FHs at times to keep them guessing.
If he could take care of his own serve, opponent’s hitting hard doesn’t matter.
Hwaks…what do u think of rafa’s game so far?
I mean “Hawks”!..hehe..sorry Hawks!
Only scoreboard watching but I KNOW it’s bad because he’s held just four of eight service games.
He’s obviously horrible in this match.
He’s only won half of his service points.
Those are vulgar service stats.
At least he’s back on serve, not that that counts for anything in this match.
Ok Hawks..thanks for your thought…very different from sascha’s match isn’t it?I think play in cold and heavy condition affected him…but,the good thing is,he’s winning now and more importantly,his mental strength is superb despite the non stop onslaught from Diego..that’s really good news indeed..
Yeah could be that for sure MA and the way he ended the match was fantastic. I think he won the last 12 or 14 points.
There were one or two people on here who said Diego might have the game to give Rafa a challenge.
I not watching it because I am out, but as long as Rafa wins, that’s fine with me,
That’s me Nny..i’ve seen Diego on action against Agut and i knew immediately that Diego can give rafa trouble..He dispatched Agut in straight sets..and Agut like all Spanish players is a clay court specialist…to defeat him in starights that means there’s something really good in him..and he shows us atm…
He’s gotten even stronger this year compared to last. This guy Diego. But Rafa is going to break back….! Yessss
This is Schwartzman’s first masters 1000 QF!
The only player who’s giving Rafa a challenge in this match is Rafa.
Hope this helps.
If Diego can overcome the deficit and live to win a set, I might put him in the toughness category with Dominika Cibulkova. If Diego loses in straights…nope not up to Dominika’s mentality.
Rafa is leaving it all out there to get this over in 2. But Diego didn’t get discouraged being down to start the set. Now he’s broken Rafa. Yeah, this guy is dogged and determined – never say die attitude. Definitely reminds me of Dominika.
Diego up a break in the second set. Rafa is hitting right back at him; Rafa is playing a one dimensional game right now, no varieties.
If Rafa doesn’t change up, he’s going to lose this match I’m afraid.
See, everyone is hitting hard at Rafa, trying to blow him off the court, and he’s not helping himself.
When I watch this match, I’m sure it’s more about Rafa hitting short.
The guy can’t hold serve FFS.
Nothing new.
Well, I haven’t been thinking Rafa was chronically hitting short. I thought Rafa played great! But I bow to the specialists – it’s just my humble opinion when speaking of Rafa.
RC, he was broken in four of his ten service games.
Speaks for itself IMO.
Okay thanks — he needs to clean up his serve! I didn’t look at the stats for any match today. But honestly, I thought Rafa was hitting deep enough but I give Diego credit for hanging in with Rafa, hitting deep too. Eventually I thought Rafa had more in the tank and started adding variety.
Did Rafa serve better vs Sascha? I didn’t see his other matches this week.
Rafa has Goffin, whom he’s never played, ARV or Pouille. I guess I’m most worried about Pouille. I want Rafa to win another title here.
RC also he won just 53% of his points on serve.
That must be a career low for Rafa in a match win.
Rafa played D.Goffin at the Abu Dhabi exhibition tournament on Dec. 31, 2016:
https://tenngrand.com/2016/12/31/nadal-repeats-champion-abu-dhabi/
Shhh Augusta. Now we can’t use the excuse that Rafa wasn’t familiar with his game if he loses.
At least we still have:
1. He doesn’t want to play 100% and risk injury before French Open.
2. He is already injured.
3. He’s just being polite.
4. He was only kidding.
5. All of the above.
6. Some or all of 2-3 AND 1 or 2 (but not both).
Nothing new from the Djoko-lover AT 8:04 PM.
I just looked at all match stats for Rafa v Diego and Nole v David.
low percentages for all of them in points won on serve. A bit higher in the Nole v Goffin match but nothing spectacular. Nole is not hitting a big serve consistently.
ROS….we are talking about the top ranked ROS this year!:1) Andy,2) Rafa, 3)Nole, 4)Diego, yes Diego Schwatzman, 5) Kei 6) Goffin!
http://www.atpworldtour.com/en/stats/leaderboard?page=serve
These were two great matches, I thought 😀
I just thought that stat was amazing. I like tennis analytics.
And, to be fair, I was only scoreboard watching.
I did see some great highlights from Rafa posted on twitter.
So I’ll definitely have a look on TennisTV.
Speaking of stats, thanks for that rc. Wow, that really helps put it into perspective and it’s amazing that those two matches featured 4 of the 6 best ROS.
Diego being the lowest ranked which suggests he must have a relatively low rate of holding serve…lemme look. He’s 69th in serve rating which isn’t terrible but significantly below his ranking. 72 in holding serve getting broken about 30% of the time.
On clay, Rafa’s no. 1 ROS rating winning 42% of his return games. Diego is 4th winning 39% of his return games.
And if you filter your search by just clay, the top four ROS rankings in order are, can you guess?
Rafa, Goffin, Nole and Diego.
Wow. That’s amazing.
I remember you like stats. I do too but I get lazy. If you specify for clay, look at the leaders….particularly ROS and you see Diego up there…Rafa is the best but Diego is no slouch he can bring down someone’s service % right up there with the very best.
http://www.atpworldtour.com/en/stats
Okay…you already looked at it. LOL…
To me, on clay you can throw out that #41 ranking number for Diego – he’s a tougher customer than that!
Axiom: Rafa, when not injured, is invincible.
All deductions about Rafa’s losses have to be based on this.
An axiom, as you know, is a self evident truth.
Oh snap rc!
Yes but with the assumption that he’s injured every time he loses.
That’s My point.
What a slugfest! Diego’s error count in mounting — he’s the first to blink and can’t keep this up vs the King of Clay. He’s pretty good though, Diego.
Rafa upping his level
Great finish. Should have played like that earlier in the match
Rafa is through to SFs!!! Yayyyy!!!
Yes! Come on Rafa one more break and you’ll win the match! At least Rafa change up a little bit – hit some high looping shots, hits more to Diego’s FH and serves intelligently that last point of his service game.
He’s so good at the net, now using drop shots so intelligently! Sigh, he should play this way earlier in the match.
Yes, Rafa breaks and wins the match, 6-4, 6-4! Thank goodness not a third set! Well done Rafa, vamos! I thought Rafa is going to lose the second set, but well done Rafa, to change up in the last few games and Diego couldn’t handle those.
None of these outside-the-top-ten cats can take the King of Clay, even when he’s playing sub-par for his standard… Rafa for the title!
Goffin winning is possible if the Belgian plays amazing and Rafa is off but I doubt this will happen. Rafa ftw in MC.
This season has been awesome to be honest. I’m loving all the upsets and deep runs from underdogs at the tournaments along with Fed Rafa and Stan as the top 3 in the race and Kyrgios starting to mature and consistently become a threat too. And I’m just fine with Djoker and Murray struggling lol. Honestly couldn’t be happier with the way this year has gone on the ATP. Rafa needs to win this title now. He deserves his first of the season, and it would be nice to see him take down Barcelona next week as well.
Only saw last set from the period when Diego took the lead at 3-2 until the end. Rafa seemed to have a bit of a lull there, but Diego was on fire for a few games. Couldn’t sustain it and Nadal really picked it up in the last several games. He clearly didn’t want to go three sets in the cold.
Nny!Yay!Congrats to u for rafa’s win!Hope u will feel muuuucchhhh better with this win Nny!To semis we go!!!Wooohooo!!
MA,
I checked the score when I got home. So happy to see that Rafa won!
Now I am going to watch my recording of the match.
Rafa is in the semis!
Go get this title Rafa!
Rafa won just 53% of his service points.
That must be a career low for a win for him, for sure, no?
Incredible…
Dear me. Does he lose style points?
#awinisawin
That stat isn’t surprising to you Ramara?
#itiswhatitis