Rafael Nadal has booked his spot in the semifinals at the ATP’s year-end event for the first time in five years with a win over Stefanos Tsitsipas on Thursday.
Rafael Nadal put on a strong display of indoor hard-court tennis in a 6-4, 4-6, 6-2 defeat of world No. 6 and defending champion Stefanos Tsitsipas. Nadal, who has historically come into the year-end event exhausted or injured, has played a trio of excellent matches this week–including his single loss at the hands of an inspired Dominic Thiem.
Nadal was the better player from the start of Thursday’s match. In the first set, the world No. 2 dropped exactly five points on serve; Tsitsipas never got close to a service break. The set was entertaining regardless, as both men showcased a wide variety of shots, with slices, lobs, dropshots, and traditional baseline play.
The second set got more complicated for Nadal. He played well for most of the set, but out of nowhere he had a shaky game serving at 4-5 to stay in the set and Tsitsipas broke to level the match at a set a piece.
“I had a good reaction later, but I was playing I think a great level of tennis for almost two sets,” Nadal commented. “[At] 6-4, 5-4 I think the score was close, but in terms of feeling I felt that I was playing better than him. Then the situation changed. He won that game and then I was starting to suffer a little bit more with my serve.”
Tsitsipas’ success was short-lived, however. Set thrree was back to one-way traffic again, all headed Nadal’s direction. The 13-time French Open champion was broken once more, but he was never in danger of losing the lead as he secured three breaks of Tsitsipas’ serve.
The Spaniard will head into the semifinal round against the Group A winner, Daniil Medvedev, against whom Nadal played the epic U.S. Open final in 2019.
Of Medvedev, he said, “He’s playing amazing this year for sure now. He played semifinals in New York and now winning in Paris, and winning two matches here of course he has plenty of confidence and playing very, very high level.”
nice one, Rafa
Medvedev’s flatter ground shots will pose a problem for Rafa, and Daniil is not scared of getting into rallies. The rallies, in fact, might favor the Russian on the faster indoor surface with his flatter ground shots. Nadal will be hard pressed for time to reach balls. Medvedev, however, must avoid a brain-cramp. Like the one he had last year and lost from 5-1 up in the third. … https://www.138mph.com/nadal-to-play-medvedev-in-the-semifinals-of-atp-finals/
Do u know rafa has ended season as top 2..12 years .that’s staggering..even fed n djoko don’t have that
12 of last 15 years he is in top 2..any male tennis player can boast of that ? Even the great Steffi Graf had 10 …