Three Spanish players will be in quarterfinal action on Wednesday at the U.S. Open. Rafael Nadal and Tommy Robredo are squaring off in an all-Spanish showdown, with the winner to go up against either David Ferrer or Richard Gasquet.
Rafael Nadal and Tommy Robredo will be going head-to-head for the seventh time in their careers and for the first time since 2009 when the two Spaniards collide in the quarterfinals of the U.S. Open on Wednesday. Nadal has won all six of their previous encounters, including four on hard courts. The world No. 2 is 13-1 lifetime in sets against Robredo.
This was, of course, supposed to be the 32nd meeting between Nadal and Roger Federer, but Robredo derailed those plans on Monday evening with a 7-6(3), 6-3, 6-4 upset. The 31-year-old preceded that triumph with victories over Marinko Matosevic, Frank Dancevic, and Daniel Evens. Finally armed with a clean bill of health, Robredo is 35-17 for a resurgent 2013 campaign and he is back up to No. 22 in the world.
Nadal, though, is even more on fire than Robredo–and everyone else–this season. This fortnight’s No. 2 seed is 57-3 for the year and undefeated on hard courts (titles in Indian Wells, Montreal, and Cincinnati). So far at the U.S. Open, Nadal has dismissed Ryan Harrison, Rogerio Dutra Silva, Ivan Dodig, and Philipp Kohlschreiber. The 2010 champion has dropped only one set and his serve has not yet been broken.
“I’m happy to see him come back after injury,” Nadal said of Robredo. “He’s playing a very good tournament. He will come to the match with confidence and I hope I will be ready.”
Robedo is the one who will have to be ready, having endured a few tough matches in the earlier rounds and obviously an emotional win over Federer–even though it lasted just three sets. As past history suggests, this is not a good matchup for the underdog. Nadal can grind from the baseline all day with Robredo and the 12-time slam champion has a much easier time finishing points both with forehands and at net.
Pick: Nadal in 3 losing 11-13 games
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Ok, I picked on Rafa’s serves enough. Now I have to say he played beautifully from the baseline. The forehand was firing canon balls! And he hit so the balls deep and sooooo close to the lines. He’s obviously very comfortable. I love a confident and predatory Rafa!
Good nite Rafans!!! Of to bed now, its 10.52 pm in St. Lucia and I have work tomorrow! Enjoy the rest of the tennis tomorrow, folks! Looking forward to Muzz and Wawa!!!!
that was some big time dominance ! rafa now has two days off, he’l work on his aggressiveness even more and I am glad he has time to work on his serve too..
Gasquet will be bulldozed
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that was some big time dominance ! rafa now has two days off, he’l work on his aggressiveness even more and I am glad he has time to work on his serve too..
Gasquet will be bulldozed
Good night!
yeah JCKNY, rafa’s forehand was indeed firing cannon balls…67/67 service games held ! wow
vamooooooos!
This match was good for my nerves! 🙂
Vamooooosssss!
Gasquet is done
The official Twitter account of Rafa surpassed five million followers, making him the MOST popular tennis player on the social network. He created his first tweet on August 3, 2011.
Vamoooos, Rafa!
http://rafaelnadalfans.com/2013/09/05/rafael-nadal-surpasses-five-million-twitter-followers/
Rafa was trailing 1-4 to verdasco in the 1st set of 2010 qf.
It’s year he is playing better than 2010.
You could call Rafa this year Rafa 2.0 but then again Rafa has gone through strong improvements in several years.
(from vacation so not writing often and alas not much internet nor match video coverage)
Chloro,
I wondered where you were. It’s nice to know that you can get on once in while to join in the discussion. These are good times!
Some of my fellow Rafa fans were getting quite greedy during this match. Ricky was right that it’s hard to keep up the intensity when the match is so lopsided and non competitive. I am not surprised that Rafa had a few lapses. But he came out blasting tonight. I had this feeling that he wanted to just smother Robredo and take him out of the match. He was moving into the net to hit beautiful volleys, the forehand was blazing and court positioning was brilliant. Rafa is feeling it! Scary good!
I was wondering how Fed would have done. I felt a little sorry for the crowd. I guess Fed would not have fared much better. Rafa was in the zone. Just think that he is only going to get better. He doesn’t play his best in the quarterfinals of a slam. I said that I expected him to go up another gear in this match, but I did not expect this kind of demolition. Rafa went up a few gears.
It’s not like Robredo wasn’t trying. He did try to get his racket on some balls and hand with Rafa in some rallies. But it did not happen often. In the beginning they put up first serve % and both players were low – Robredo with 20% and Rafa with 33%. But then as the match went on they said that Rafa’s first serve % went up a lot.
Now that Gasquet has killed himself to get through two tough five setters, he gets the reward of playing Rafa in the semifinals! I just wish that Rafa didn’t have two days off. I want him to stay in this great rhythm. I hope he uses the two days well to work on his serve and fine tune his game. He has a date with the final!
The only question now is, who will Rafa be facing?
One more thing. Rafa’s serve was better at the 2010 USO. He was blasting those big 130+ serves for aces all over the place. He doesn’t have that USO serve, but he doesn’t need it with the way he is playing now.
i’m sure he could if he wanted to. but exactly, he doesn’t need to so no reason to.
He has addressed the serve issue, he said it’s strategic: he is not going for power like he did in 2010. He is going for placement to set up the next shot, preferably his forehand. Even Djokovic, in his post Granollers presser, said Rafa has the best 1-2 punch in the business. This is why you see opponents try as much as possible to return to his backhand, especially after a serve, to avoid that lethal forehand.
Nike really should design pants that don’t cut so fit around the crotch/hip area. It stretches so tight that now Rafa has to adjust there as well as the back. It doesn’t look good.
That’s funny. I have noticed that, too. Rafa always has his little nervous ticks during a match. But I wondered why his shorts are so snug in that area. Or maybe he is doing it without even realizing it. 🙂
Here’s a nice article on Rafa’s 2013 serve:
http://www.thetennisspace.com/nadals-serving-success-is-not-about-speed/
That is a very interesting article. But my question is, will this slower serve with the great placement stand up to the likes of Djoker or Murray? They are two of the best returners in the game. Can this serve work against them in the final?
That is the big question @nny. My understanding is that although the big 2010 serve paid handsome dividends, it caused him shoulder problems, so that on it’s own is a minus. I think the trick with the 2013 serve is for Rafa to place a high % of first serves and win an equally high % of them. Against Robredo Rafa did not serve particularly well although his 1st serve % won was quite high. Obviously Nole and Muzza are far better returners than Robredo and will attack his 2nd serve more successfully. So, the answer to your question I think is that Rafa needs to find his first serve more regularly in any match up with Nole and Muzza.
Apologies guys. I went AWOL for the match! Took a nap after the Gasquet match and crashed out totally and missed all the action. It was on the cards Robredo would have very little left for that encounter but I was expecting him to at least be able to put up a bit of a fight.
Eurosport have not included Rafa’s match in the catch up videos but with luck it will come up on You Tube.
Agree with Ricky – Gasquet to meet the same fate in the SF. Maybe not a bagel but it’ll be 3-set demolition by Rafa.
NNY: Rafa is not going for speed that often but he let’s rip on the serve when he is in a tight corner facing Bps to great effect.
Rafa doesnt like to serve to fast.
He says that when he serves big the return come back fast too (if it is not an ace) and leaves hm with less time to get a big swing on his forehand on his 2nd shot.
Slightly slower serve with better placement gives him better chance to start the rally in a competitive position.
I just want to say thanks to ritb, ed, and atul for the replies to my post about Rafa’s serve. I am not saying that it’s a bad thing, I just wonder if it can stand up to the best returners in the game. Murray is now out, so that would mean Djoker.
Rafa is defending his serve very well when facing break point. I guess that’s why he hasn’t been broken yet in this tournament! 🙂
should have picked Stan. There was no reason not to.
I went back and forth with Murray in 4 or 5 and daring to go out on a limb to pick Stan. But I didn’t do it. I thought that Murray would come out and play better. I knew that Stan was dangerous, but I thought Murray would be ready. Wrong!
Murray was beyond horrendous.