The King of Clay is once again the King of Rome.
Alexander Zverev came close to staying on the throne at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia, but he did not have quite enough to get across the finish line against Rafael Nadal on Sunday evening. Nadal got off a fast start, slumped through the second set and early in the third, and finally emerged from a rain delay to overcome Zverev 6-1, 1-6, 6-3 after two hours and nine minutes.
The Spaniard delivered a breadstick in the opener but got a taste of his own medicine in the middle frame–just the ninth time in his career that he has lost a 6-1 set on clay, and the fourth time in Rome.
With momentum in hand, Zverev surged to a 3-1 lead in the decider. The defending champion could do little wrong, seemingly poised for his third consecutive clay-court title on the heels of recent triumphs in Munich and Madrid. But that is when the rain came and interrupted play for an hour.
It was a different match when the players returned.
Nadal, who had held serve for 2-3 prior to the delay, ended up winning the last five games of the match. The top seed emerged for the resumption by breaking for 3-3, holding for 4-3, breaking again for 5-3, and holding without much trouble to clinch victory. Zverev pushed his opponent to deuce only once in the final five games, when he failed to convert one game point while serving at 3-2.
Highlights:
Nadal lifted the trophy in Rome for the eighth time while improving to 19-1 on clay this season. Zverev is 17-3 on clay in 2018, including 17-1 against opponents other than Nadal.
“There’s nothing I can do about it,” the 21-year-old said of the rain delay. “Next time I have to find a way to come out better after the rain and play better tennis. He came out way faster and played much more aggressive than I did.
“And, you know, with the fatigue I had it took me a very long time to get activated again and to get going. Obviously, it wasn’t enough time. It just changed momentum. And Rafa is somebody that if you’re not in the match and if you’re not feeling the ball well, you have no chance.”
“When it happened, the rain delay, I didn’t feel in that moment that it would help me,” Nadal noted. “That’s my feeling. It’s true that if we analyze it now, of course we can say that the rain delay helped me. But really, in my opinion, what helped me is that I came back with a clear idea in terms of tactical issues and in terms of decisions that I took after that break.
“It has been an amazing week. Such an important week to have this trophy with me again after losing in the quarterfinals in Madrid. It was unforgettable and emotional for me. It’s amazing to win eight titles in Rome. It’s a difficult event and to have the chance to win again here means a lot. This is the moment to enjoy winning here again.”
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