Rafael Nadal and Nikoloz Basilashvili will be going head-to-head for the second time in their careers when they battle for a spot in the U.S. Open quarterfinals on Sunday.
Unless Basilashvili gets triple-bageled, he won’t do any worse than he did in their only previous encounter at the 2017 French Open. Obviously going up against Nadal on a woefully unfavorable surface, the Georgian managed to win all of one game in a 6-0, 6-1, 6-0 defeat.
A hard court should provide a much better opportunity for Basilashvili, who is enjoying success for the second time at a major this season after reaching round three of the Australian Open. The world No. 37 has already done one better in New York, where he booked his spot in the last 16 thanks to victories over Aljaz Bedene, Jack Sock, and Guido Pella.
Nadal’s title defense got off to a strong start with wins at the expense of David Ferrer (via second-set retirement) and Vasek Pospisil (6-3, 6-4, 6-2). The Spaniard suddenly ran into a whole lot of trouble in the form of Karen Khachanov on Friday, but he survived 5-7, 7-5, 7-6(7), 7-6(3) in more than four hours.
“I think I played two good matches to start,” Nadal said of his first week in Flushing Meadows. “Especially the second one. [Against Khachanov], I think I started the match great…. I believe that there is some margin to improve. But I really hope that this kind of match helps. These kind of matches make you feel confident; make you feel stronger. At some point you need to go through some tough moments.
“I think this match helps. [Winning] these kind of matches, going through some very tough situations, lot of moments in the match…helps a lot for the confidence and helps to understand how you have to play for next match.”
The biggest key for Nadal in his next match is the status of his knees, as yet another potential physical issue reared its head against Khachanov. But the world No. 1 said, “my personal feeling is I (am) going to be at my 100 percent for the next one.”
If he is, the end of Basilashvili’s run is here–but it will be a lot more competitive than it was at Roland Garros.
Pick: Nadal in 3 losing 11-14 games
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Normally I wouldn’t give Thiem a shot at getting even a set off of Rafa on a hardcourt. But given that the courts are playing historically slow, I give a Thiem a chance of getting a set. Maaaaaybe even two… but doubtful.
Fed might surrender a set or two in the semifinals too.
Fed would lose in QF.
Reread Kevin’s post and think about it.
(You’re close.)
Rafa really struggles with closing out matches these days. He was in control for two sets yet now the third set is a battle.
Rafa looking very one dimensional in this third set, just going CC to opponent’s BH all the time no matter what! No wonder he got burnt so often when opponent hit his BH DTL!
So Rafa wants to play four five hours for this match, I see! He’s not helping himself and his knee; even if he wins this match, I think he’ll lose to Thiem if he continues to play like this.
I mean losing a set to opponents ranked 37 and 27, how many sets he’s going to lose to top ten player(s)?
wafa is in trouble. this Basilashvili guy is such a joy to watch. unfortunately he won’t have enough in the tank to challenge the moonballing dirtballer.
Look who crawled out. So predictable. Boring! Get a life poor whittle loser.
Fedfans lol.
He’s not helping himself when he’s playing brainless grinding tennis! His opponent is hitting so many BH winners yet Rafa just brainlessly keeps hitting CC to his BH almost all the time!
His quest for another title here not looking good, I afraid.
Lucky…i already giving up hope of seeing him bite another trophy as soon as he finished the match against Kaschanov…I mean,can we honestly believe ‘THIS’ Rafa would win against Novak/Fed?
He gets a break. Needs a quick 6-2 like set. Rafa-Theim would be a night match. So Rafa gets more than 50 hours for the next match. And then he gets 2 days off. So, he should be rested given that he did not play Cincy and was rested.
But his level is not good.
If he continues to play like this, he’ll lose to Thiem! Thiem is a better player than this Basilashvili. For all we know, Rafa may need to go five sets to beat this Basilashvili, and that’s because he wins with his fitness. The way he’s serving, he’s going to lose his serve again this this fourth set!
and I am surprised why can’t Rafa show the same urgency in the third set which he is showing now.He should have broken when he was 0-40 in first game given that opponent is not a big server.
Note how many BH winners Basilashvili hits? 21! And Rafa is still hitting to his BH all the time!
Rafa is not doing his knee any favors. This one should have been over and done in three. Things have changed with meeting Thiem in the quarterfinals. Rafa needed to get off the court fairly quickly today.
Pam Shriver interviewed Carlos Moya and asked his thoughts on the third set. He said Rafa played too defensive and also had missed opportunities early in the set.
This match is almost three hours long.
Why is Rafa always so defensive even against players ranked in the 30s? Moya knows it yet he can’t do anything about it; too many years of grinding has led to Rafa believing in grinding for a win. No wonder his knees are in such bad conditions.
The win over Khachanov has not helped in his confidence apparently, he’s still playing defensive tennis as the match wears on.
Rafa’s performance to me is just so disappointing!!! For sure, her will lose to Theim!!!! Thiem’s performance today was so flawless it was scary!! This is the end of the road for Rafa, sorry!! He is just convincing as a defending champ!!!
no
Wow. This match is surely over in just a couple games… After completely choking away those chances to break back, Basilashvili’s spirit is surely broken.
Great fighting on Rafa’s part to get out of that. Going 5 with a guy of Basilashvili’s caliber would be unacceptable for Rafa…
Rafa breaks serve again but what’s the point of breaking serve only to hand the break back?
I’m truly disappointed with the way he plays in these two sets, when he was playing so well to win the first two sets. Its more to do with his level drastically gone down than his opponent suddenly playing well. It’s Rafa giving his opponent belief, that his opponent continues to hit hard and serve big, esp when Rafa is feeding CC balls for him to hit his BH winners!
Rafa surrenders his own belief donating it to his opponents.
Playing not to lose a self fulfilling prophecy.
A win is a win 🤷♂️
Rafa reserved in his celebration and on court interview.
Yeah, something is up.
His confidence is waning.
An hour back , you mentioned knee issue that I mentioned was a troll. Now you contradict yourself, not for the first time though.
Straw man argument. Misleading context.
Seriously fedexal, give it a rest. Stop your trolling. We’re here to talk tennis.
I didn’t watch the match. Can someone explain what is up with him and what is injured?
I didn’t see it either Benny. Feeling glum reading the comments! Was ok for him to be poor for one match but 2 in a row isn’t good😢
Nothing obvious.
As Tignor said the other day. There are two versions of Rafa now. The confident one and the nervous one. Difference from 2015-16 is the confident Rafa shows up long enough to outlast the nervy one.
Played quite well the first set and level dropped after that dropping back and hitting short which is what he does when he’s nervous.
Benny,
Rafa is not injured. Ignore that nonsense. Rafa seems to play defensive and not taking advantage of opportunities to break early in the third set. Then he started playing more aggressive in the fourth set. But what he has this up and down with the lapses, I don’t know.
I don’t think he’s injured. A bit tired, perhaps or maybe he knew he had this match and didn’t need to get that pumped up. Basilashvili is playing better than usual – or he wouldn’t be in the 4th round even against not particularly difficult opponents. Rafa was wearing a below the knee tape on Friday but not today. Today’s match was very physical; Friday’s was even more so.
Otoh, Thiem played one heck of a match vs Kando. Rafa will have to pick it up to beat him on Tuesday.
Don’t read too much into the comments here. Watching an entire Rafa match is very hard on the nerves and diehard fans get really impatient and angry if he doesn’t win every game. Sometimes every damn point. (I only watched the last set and I’m still shaking, lol).
Apparently thiem was excellent which is a surprise as he is usually rubbish on hard courts…
I still dont know, how being fully rested and playing only for and a half sets in 2 rounds, just started giving problems to his knees. Why his doctors are not just telling him that he needs to cut down his HC scheduling.
And he is enrolled for Asian swing . Heights of stupidity. Just shut the year after USO and get ready for AO. To hell with WTF . Just take a break.
Just do what Fed is doing. He better play one FrenchOpen more in his career than playing HC slams or tourneys.
So does anyone give him a chance against thiem?! I mean a real chance??
He cant win USO with his current health conditions. Its 0 or 1 for Rafa now. QF, SF and F results dont matter . Its eaither win or lose.
Definitely. He’s the favourite. All in his control and he tends to raise his game as the opponent becomes tougher.
But his confidence is shaky which puts him at greater risk. He will need to better control his nerves or he stands little chance.
My guess is that there’s an underlying physical issue that he’s worried could get worse.
You confuse me a bit hawks by suggesting he is simply getting nervy again but also suggesting his nerves are due to a physical problem!
I really don’t want him to go down tamely to thiem!
Or do I misunderstand you??
Of course he has a chance. Thiem is not that great on hc. Has never played on Ashe. The court is slower. So Rafa has a chance but I think if he is injured it will catch up with him. I don’t know how he played but his post match interview clearly looked offkey n he mentioned physical issue in interview too didn’t he ?. 3.5 hours was not needed today at all
Sorry sanju I don’t mean to sound negative! But reading all the comments is quite depressing and people are saying thiem was excellent today..😕
Thiem was excellent against a worn out Kevin Anderson who is still probably feeling the effects of playing a near 7 hour match at Wimbledon coupled with two five setters in the first three rounds.
Thanks for that Benny! You and Kevin are really cheering me up!!!☺
PS down with Dom!!
Amy the people watching the match are braver than you or me as they atleast watch whereas we don’t …but frankly comments here midmatch you know are always pointing out how bad he is as the bar for him is very high maybe. Why do you read comments midmatch hehe..I read it after the match is over n if he has won , it’s amusing 🙂 today for instance first 2 sets hardly any but the moment third was downhill flood of concerned comments start coming…thats we rafans…always worried 🙂
Well I have problems watching live sanju from England!!
But it’s true we rafa fans get really mad when he is playing! During the match with Delpo at wimby I was sure he was going to lose!!
The more passionate we are the more distraught we get throwing out dire predictions of doom and gloom!!😀😀
Amy, let’s not get carried away here… Although Thiem hasnbesten him before, it was always on clay and never at a major. Sure, Rafa didn’t play his best today in the second half of the match, and Thiem played well in his match, but that doesn’t mean that Thiem is just suddenly favored over Rafa. Especially on a hard court!
We saw Rafa play well below his standard during multiple matches during last year’s US Open, and he was just fine.
I’m not saying that Thiem can’t beat Rafa- of course he can. But let’s not act like he should suddenly be favored over the 3-time and defending champion, when he himself has hardly ever even made the 2nd week at hard court majors.
Rafa is still the far superior player in terms of intelligence. Rafa doesn’t need to blow Thiem off the court- just needs to play better than Thiem in the most important points in 3 different sets.
I just can’t pick Thiem to beat Rafa at any major when Thiem hasn’t even remotely come close whenever they’ve played best-of-5.
The ONE exception will be if Rafa’s knee is injured. Then it would be fair to think Thiem should be favored. However, I don’t think that Rafa is injured enough for it to be the reason why he loses to Thiem.
He is injured and that is making him nervous.
Thanks a lot for that Kevin! Your positivity has really cheered me up! Thiem is presumably also still standing a mile behind the baseline!!☺
I just so want rafa to start playing his real game..!
I absolutely give Rafa a chance! The pendulum has swung so wildly for some that they must have whiplash. Thiem has come out of nowhere and suddenly he’s the conquering hero?
I don’t presume to know exactly what is going on with Rafa. But he is still competing and staying in the fight.
I agree with Kevin’s analysis.
he will win
so yes, i’d say he has a chance