RAFAEL RAFA NADAL CRUISES PAST NOVAK DJOKOVIC TO REACH MUTUA MADRID OPEN ATP TENNIS FINAL

Written by: Staff on 13th May 2017

RAFAEL RAFA NADAL CRUISES PAST NOVAK DJOKOVIC TO REACH MUTUA MADRID OPEN ATP TENNIS FINAL

epaselect epa05961700 Spain's Rafael Nadal celebrates winning his semi final match against Serbia's Novak Djokovic at the Mutua Madrid Open tennis tournament in Madrid, Spain, 13 May 2017. EPA/JUANJO MARTIN |

Nadal cruises past Djokovic to reach Mutua Madrid Open final

By Ricky Dimon

Rafael Nadal improved to 14-0 on clay this season and moved to within one win of a fifth career title at the Mutua Madrid Open when he toppled Novak Djokovic 6-2, 6-4 on Saturday afternoon. Nadal broke serve four times to advance in one hour and 38 minutes.

The fifth-ranked Spaniard had lost seven matches in a row in this head-to-head series and also dropped 15 sets in succession. But he made a statement right away that this one was going to be different. Nadal jumped out to a 4-0 lead and had no trouble consolidating it the rest of the way.

A more competitive set saw the 14-time Grand Slam champion get broken once, but a clutch hold at 5-4 after saving a break point allowed him to cross the finish line.

“I think I played a really good first set,” Nadal assessed. “The second set I was a little bit more nervous. I played a little bit shorter. I think then the match was more even. Finally I managed to win it. It’s a very important victory. It gives me the possibility to play another final and to continue in a positive line. I am happy the way I played today, being able to make it to the final once again. I’ll try to be 100 percent and ready for tomorrow’s match.”

Nadal awaits either Dominic Thiem or Pablo Cuevas in Sunday’s final.

As for Djokovic, he once again has to go back to the drawing board after turning in another error-plagued performance. The world No. 2 at least managed to win two matches in Madrid before getting a walkover from Kei Nishikori, but his form in 2017 is such that he could not have been confident in his chances of putting up a serious fight against Nadal.

“Rafa was obviously a better player today,” Djokovic said. “He deserved to win. He was controlling the match from beginning to the end. All in all, I did try my best. It wasn’t a very high quality of tennis from my side. I made a lot of unforced errors, especially in the first set.

Serbia’s Novak Djokovic in action during his semi final match against Spain’s Rafael Nadal at the Mutua Madrid Open tennis tournament in Madrid, Spain, 13 May 2017. EPA/SERGIO BARRENECHEA

Spain’s Rafael Nadal in action during his semi final match against Serbia’s Novak Djokovic at the Mutua Madrid Open tennis tournament in Madrid, Spain, 13 May 2017. EPA/JUANJO MARTIN

“Just his quality was very high. He managed to do whatever he wanted, especially in the first set. I was getting a lot of balls back. He was serving well. He was using his court positioning well. Today was warmer than last three, four days, so conditions were quite different. The ball was bouncing very high. He managed to be better in these kind of conditions.”

Nadal has been unbeatable in all conditions with clay under his feet this season. He recently captured 10th titles in both Monte-Carlo and Barcelona.

“What’s important to me is to make it to another final,” Madrid’s fourth seed noted. “As time goes by, what is important is the titles, not the opponents that you have beaten. It’s just the titles that you have won. It’s true that some matches are more important than others. But I’m just here to try to make it the best possible way, to play my best tennis, and of course to beat an opponent such as Novak, it gives you a lot of confidence. It shows you you’re working in the right way.”