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Defending champion Nadal prepares for a meeting with Argentine Diego Schwartzman, who beat him at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia in Rome last month
Last update: 07/10/20 1:45 am
Rafael Nadal eliminated 19-year-old Jannik Sinner from Italy in a match that ended early Wednesday morning in Paris.
Rafael Nadal had his first real test of this year’s French Open, but the defending champion successfully stayed on track to clinch a record 20 Grand Slam titles with a straight sets victory over teenage sensation Jannik Sinner.
The Spaniard, seeking to match Roger Federer’s record of 20 Grand Slam men’s singles titles, was stretched like few times before by 19-year-old Sinner, but managed to win 7-6 (7-4) 6-4 6- 1 in a match that ended at 12.25 in Paris.
“Sinner is a very, very young talent with a lot of power, great shots. For two sets it was difficult, especially in the second set I was lucky to be back,” Nadal said. “The conditions were a bit difficult, I was hitting each ball very hard and in this cold, my speed is not there. It was difficult for me to get him out of position.”
“Now I have two, well, almost a day and a half to rest and practice.”
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Sinner, the first French Open rookie to reach the knockout stages since Nadal in 2005, confirmed his immense potential but lacked a bit of composure when it mattered.
He had already beaten two players ranked in the top 15 on his way to a Grand Slam first quarterfinal.
The Italian pushed Nadal in the first set, breaking to lead 6-5 before the Spaniard, chasing a 13th Roland Garros crown, rallied to force the tie-break, which he took.
Sinner, currently ranked 75th in the world, rallied in second to rush to a 3-1 lead, however Nadal relied on his experience to climb up and take the set before fleeing with him in third.
The result sets up a delightful semifinal showdown between Nadal and Schwartzman.
Nadal has won nine of his previous 10 games, but Schwartzman won the most recent, last month on clay in Rome.
“He’s very confident, doesn’t he? Two weeks in a row,” Nadal said of Schwartzman. “He is in the final in Rome, he is in the semifinals here. He beat me there. It is a plus of confidence for him. I know.”
It will be Nadal’s 13th semi-final at Roland Garros and 34th at all Grand Slams. He is 24-0 in the French Open semi-finals and finals, part of a 98-2 record on red soil that he has dominated since 2005.
Sinner, the reigning champion of the ATP Next Gen Finals, showed how talented he is pushing Nadal
Sinner has been touted as a future top 10 player, but the teen says his only thought is to work hard to improve his game.
“I am a person who does not look to the future or the past, always to the present,” he said. “In the end you have to prove it all. I haven’t won anything so far. Okay Next Gen, it’s a tournament. In the end I haven’t won anything.”
“It’s just with my head down and trying to improve, trying to play hours after hours on the court, what I have to do. We’ll see where I am in 12 months.”
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