SAN FRANCISCO, October 06, (THEWILL) – In what has become the latest time a Roland Garros match has ever stretched, 12-time French Open champion Rafael Nadal overcame an early challenge posed by his 19-year-old opponent in the quarterfinals, Jannik Sinner to qualify for his 13th semi-finals. He pulled away from Sinner in subsequent sets to win their quarterfinal 7-6(4) 6-4, 6-1 in a match that lasted until nearly 1:30 AM on Wednesday morning.
The match kicked off after 10:30 PM on Tuesday night. It was scheduled to be the last match of the day on a packed programme of matches on Court Philippe Chatrier. The one preceding their tie went longer than anticipated no thanks to the five-hour, five-set thriller between the 12th seeded Diego Schwartzman and number three seed Dominic Theim.
THEWILL knows that entering the fray with the renowned King of Clay must have been an intimidating prospect for the young Italian Sinner but if the player felt any of that intimidation, he never let it show. Instead, he displayed some of the groundstroke power and precise footwork that helped the 75th ranked player eliminate the German US Open finalist Alexander Zverev and the Belgian David Goffin earlier in the tournament.
In their first set, Sinner produced masterful strokes to nose ahead, breaking for a 6-5 lead on Nadal’s wide forehand. He was playing so well, he even served for the set at a point in the game when he had yet to face a single breakpoint.
However, that was short-lived because Nadal pushed right back, forcing a breakpoint and snapping off a pair of forehand winners to get to 6-all. Nadal’s comeback was complete before long as he shifted gears to take the set via a tiebreaker. When Sinner’s forehand landed out, Nadal gritted his teeth and vigorously shook his left fist as he is wont to in celebration.
This pattern was repeated in the second set. Sinner was first with the break and powered on to a 3-1 lead. Immediately Nadal responded with a break of his own. This time around though, the far more experienced and accomplished Nadal came through. He reeled off four straight points applying his renowned corner-to-corner baseline defense to break Sinner who was serving at 4-all, 40-15. Then, Nadal served out the set to take it 6-4.
The champion began the third set with another break of Sinner’s serve. Those who were following up to that point knew that the only remaining suspense involved what exact numbers were going to be on the scoreboard and on the courtside clock at the conclusion of the tie rather than if there was going to be another Sinner upset at this year’s clay Open.
By nearly half past one in the morning, Nadal had completed the deciding set 6-1.
This continuation of matches so deep into the night, THEWILL learnt, was made possible in Paris this year because it is the first time that the organisers employed the use of artificial lights at the clay-court Open.
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Nadal expressed the concern top-most in many minds after the match when he said, “It’s too late,” in French before switching to English to express his gratitude to the hearty fans who braved tough and cold conditions to stick around in the stands.
The second-seeded player will take a 9-1 head-to-head edge against Schwartzman into their semi-final tie on Friday. Schwartzman’s single victory over the Spaniard came in their most recent matchup last month on clay at a tune-up for Roland Garros in Rome.
Nadal is trying for a 13th French Open title and 20th Grand Slam trophy overall which would bring him on par with the men’s record held by Roger Federer.
About the Author
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
