ATP Madrid: Tsitsipas beats Nadal and prevents dream finals
The ATP Masters 1000 tournament in Madrid doesn't have a dream final. Stefanos Tsitsipas beat Rafael Nadal 6: 4, 2: 6 and 6: 3 in the semi-finals of the ATP Masters 1000 tournament.
by Nikolaus Fink
last edit: May 12, 2019, 12:08 am
by Nikolaus Fink from Madrid
"It's the talent that no one else has. It forces you to play badly," said Stefanos Tsitsipas after his clear semi-final loss to Rafael Nadal at the Australian Open. The Greek is one of Nadal's absolute favorite opponents and is 0-3 behind in head to head. So far, the Mallorcan has not even granted the 20-year-old a set win.
In Madrid, however, Tsitsipas had a dream start - the Greek breached Nadal 1-0 and had already taken more service games from the Spaniard than in Melbourne. But the response from the local hero was not long in coming. He immediately struck back to zero and was able to take the lead for the first time after defending a breakball.
In extremely windy conditions, both players struggled to put their best game on the clay court at the Estadio Manolo Santana. Nadal plowed his opponent's backhand with his poisonous topspin balls as expected, but Tsitsipas held up well and balanced the match.
Tsitsipas takes set one after break festival
Even so good that after defending three breakballs at 2: 3 in the next game, he converted his first of two break options and took the lead again with break. Like a few games before, Nadal struck back immediately, but Tsitsipas did the same and was allowed to serve after the break to win the set.
After defending a break ball, the ninth in the world rankings won the first set 6: 4. Overall, Tsitsipas was simply more aggressive and confident than Nadal, who did not find his game at all in the first set, especially with his own serve.
Nadal strikes back
At the beginning of the second section, the Mallorcan changed his tactics, took the balls earlier and acted much more aggressively than in set one. For his first break of the set, however, the second in the world rankings did not have to do so much: Tsitsipas made three unforced errors and gave Nadal the 4-2 lead.
Overall, however, the changeover continued to pay off. The Greek was now often on the defensive and had to accept another service game to lose the 2-6 set. Nadal won 13 of the last 16 points and had the advantage of being allowed to start in set three.
Tsitsipas creates first break
The 32-year-old stayed on the peg at the start of the decisive set, but was unable to take advantage of two break chances in the second game. The Greek did not do better in the next game, however, and also missed two opportunities for an early service breakthrough.
The game became more and more high-class and the frenetic audience in the Caja Magica got more and more involved - but with a break to 3: 2 after 40:15 lead for Nadal, Tsitsipas silenced the Spanish fans for the time being. After defending two more breakballs, the ninth in the world rankings increased to 4: 2.
Tsitsipas in the final against Djokovic
The Greek now played big and got another break to 5: 2. But Nadal did not want to be beaten so quickly - with eleven cheers from the 12,500 spectators, the eleven times French Open winner made up for a break. But that should be it with the comeback.
After 2:34 hours, Stefanos Tsitsipas turned his fourth match ball into a highly competitive three-set result. The 20-year-old will meet Novak Djokovic in the final on Sunday at 18:30 CET. The Serb beat Dominic Thiem in two tie-break sets in the first semi-final of the day .