Diego Schwartzman did not quite have Rafael Nadal on the ropes during their French Open quarterfinal match on Wednesday, but the underdog managed to land at least a couple of blows.
With almost 24 hours to regroup, Nadal delivered the knockout punch on Thursday.
Coming out like gangbusters following an overnight rain delay, the 10-time Roland Garros champion rallied from a set deficit to overcome Schwartzman 4-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-2 after a total of three hours and 42 minutes.
Highlights:
“Of course the stop yesterday [helped me],” Nadal admitted, “because it was in a tough moment of my match. He was playing great, and I was playing too defensive. I felt that I was playing a little bit under more stress than usual, and he was able to take control of the point too many times…. (It) is fair to say that the rain delay helped me yesterday, but not fair to say the conditions today helped me; the conditions today were the same for both. I played more aggressive. I continued the level of intensity that I played after the first stop. And in my opinion, the match changed. Of course he’s a tough opponent, and he’s gonna always be a tough match. But at the same time, I think after the first rain delay, the match changed a lot because I played more aggressive with high intensity and the things were more on my side.”
“I think I did a great match,” Schwartzman said. “Rafa was (a) totally different guy yesterday, and today the match changed a lot. He was playing better than me today.”
Not as much separated Juan Martin Del Potro and Marin Cilic in the other top-half quarterfinal. They returned from a suspension at 5-5 in the first-set tiebreaker, with Del Potro ultimately prevailing 7-6(5), 5-7, 6-3, 7-5.
The sixth-ranked Argentine won two straight points right away on Thursday to finish off the opening frame of play before his opponent briefly seized the upper hand. Cilic won the second and also led by a break in the third before things started to fall apart at the end of that set. Del Potro’s final service break of the contest came at 5-5 in the fourth, which allowed him to serve it out with ease one game later.
Highlights:
“I’m feeling so, so happy to make the right decision for play here,” explained Del Potro, who had retired from a Rome match against David Goffin due to a groin injury. “I am doing well. Of course I didn’t expect to get in (the) semifinals a couple of weeks before.”
“I felt that when I won the second set, the momentum was on my side,” Cilic reflected. “I felt I was playing a little bit better. I started to be just the one who was controlling the game. (I) had 2-Love, 15-40 for double-break, and then at 3-1, another break point (with a) makeable return. I didn’t, and then things turned around.”
Now it is Del Potro who will have to make a quick turnaround with no days of rest to face none other than Nadal.
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