Surprising: only one top 10 player is in the Monte-Carlo semifinals. Not surprising: that player is Rafael Nadal. The seventh-ranked Spaniard will battle David Goffin on Saturday, while Lucas Pouille and Albert Ramos-Vinolas are set for an unexpected showdown.
(4) Rafael Nadal vs. (10) David Goffin
Surprisingly–even shockingly–Nadal and Goffin have never faced each other as they head into semifinal action at the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters on Saturday. Nadal had been on a collision course with familiar foe Novak Djokovic, but Goffin upset the second-ranked ranked Serb 6-2, 3-6, 7-5 on Friday. Thus Goffin appears to be in line for another stellar clay-court swing on the heels of an awesome 2016 campaign that saw him reach quarterfinals at the Rome Masters and French Open. The 10th-seeded Belgian is 22-7 this year and also boasts victories this week over Nicolas Almagro and Dominic Thiem.
Nadal has as many titles (nine) as the other three semifinalists combined (Goffin, Lucas Pouille, and Albert Ramos-Vinolas) had single-match wins in Monte-Carlo before this week started. The Spaniard is two victories away from a 10th triumph following defeats of Kyle Edmund (6-0, 5-7, 6-3), Alexander Zverev (6-1, 6-1), and Diego Schwartzman (6-4, 6-4). Nadal is 22-5 this season and 22-2 against players not named Roger Federer. Goffin is tough, but it won’t be easy for him to follow up the biggest win of his career just 24 hours later–and he is not exactly running into the easiest of opponents.
Pick: Nadal in 2
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(15) Albert Ramos-Vinolas vs. (11) Lucas Pouille
Pouille and Ramos-Vinolas will be squaring off for the third time in their careers (second at the ATP level) on Saturday. The head-to-head series stands at one win apiece, with Ramos-Vinolas having survived in a third-set tiebreaker at a clay-court Challenger three years ago before Pouille prevailed 6-3, 6-2 on the hard courts of Auckland one season later.
To say this is a surprising Masters 1000 semifinal would be a gross understatement. Both players are seeded, but Ramos-Vinolas had to go through world No. 1 Andy Murray and fifth-seeded Marin Cilic in addition to picking up victories over Renzo Olivo and Carlos Berlocq. The 24th-ranked Spaniard now has three clay-court semifinal appearances in 2017, two other quarterfinals, and one final (lost to Pablo Cuevas in Sao Paulo). Pouille, a semifinalist in Rome last spring, has advanced by taking out Ryan Harrison, Paolo Lorenzi, Adrian Mannarino (via a first-set retirement), and Cuevas (6-0, 3-6, 7-5 on Friday). The Frenchman has bounced back nicely from early losses in Indian Wells and Miami to Donald Young, but Ramos-Vinolas has been an absolute beast on the slow stuff this year.
Pick: Ramos-Vinolas in 3
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Goffin himself says Nadal could not have done anything
http://www.tennisworldusa.org/news/news/Rafael_Nadal/42717/david-goffin-nadal-is-one-of-the-most-fair-players-he-couldn-t-do-anything-/
Why are these useless commentators and writers going on and on about 1 point. Seriously 1 point decided the match, you gotta be kidding me.
Who ever has conceded a point from other side of the court ? Rafa may have felt it’s out but he can’t overrule an umpire …people seriously have unrealistic expectations and those who do seriously must be the one who dislike him and want to tarnish his victory
They are just finding fault with Rafa; and some crazy people expect Rafa to override the umpire’ s decision from Rafa’s side of the court! I mean who they think Rafa is, that he has higher authority than the umpire of the match?? (It will be very embarrassing for the umpire if both players toppled his decision.)
Some comments in that article (on Rafa’s take of the incident) were laughable, losing respect for Rafa because of that? More like seizing an opportunity to bash Rafa!
http://www.tennisworldusa.org/news/news/Rafael_Nadal/42718/rafael-nadal–i-was-hundred-percent-correct-i-didn-t-do-anything-wrong-/
Nadals take on it
The people who claim they lost respect for Rafa are clearly the ones who have hated him always. Infinite disrespect+ additional loss of respect= infinite disrespect. No change in status quo. So who cares. Let them gnash their teeth. They will be toothless before long.
Rafa plays to win, not to please haters.
Ricky’s take on this explains it all: why even talk about this when the score speaks for itself! One point does not define the match and it’s not as Goffin did not have a chance to win that game. Rafa was obviously playing better at that point of the match and would have beaten Goffin even though the score could have been closer or not!
It’s time to rest this issue and enjoy Rafa’s sucess! Rafa haters can enjoy their missery, hope they will get more of it in the time to come!
Bad calls happen all the time! It’s those ignorant so called ‘tennis experts & commentators” spreading hatred whom I can’t stand…