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PARIS (Reuters) – Rafa Nadal will be a tougher proposition for Diego Schwartzman than he was in Rome last month when they meet in the semifinals of the French Open on Thursday, says Nadal’s coach Carlos Moya.
Twelve-time French Open champion Nadal was surprisingly beaten 6-2 7-5 by the Argentine in the Rome quarterfinals – Schwartzman’s first win over the Spaniard in 10 games.
However, that was Nadal’s first tournament in seven months, and he has advanced to the Roland Garros semi-finals without dropping a set, although he was hard pressed in the early stages of his match against Jannick Sinner on Tuesday.
Schwartzman is in his first Grand Slam semi-final after a five-hour win over US Open winner Dominic Thiem.
“The match in Rome was very strange because Rafa won two very good matches against powerful rivals,” Moya told Eurosport.
“Against Schwartzman it was the first time I had problems on the scoreboard and I wasn’t handling it quite well physically or mentally.
“We learned from that moment and now he is at a great level with many more games played. It will be a tough mental battle and I think we have some weapons that will allow Rafa to compete with guarantees.”
Nadal will be the big favorite to avenge Roma’s loss, although Moya says Schwartzman will be a tough challenge and will not be affected by his battle of attrition with Thiem.
“It will be a very difficult duel as we saw it in Rome. Diego’s match against Thiem yesterday was incredible and I think even Diego could have won more easily,” Moya said.
“Diego is an incredible player and we don’t think the physical factor is going to influence too much.”
Nadal has only lost two games at Roland Garros out of the 100 he has played.
(Reporting by Martyn Herman, edited by Ed Osmond)
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