US Open: Rafael Nadal follows Daniil Medvedev into the final
Rafael Nadal has the chance to claim his 19th Grand Slam title on Sunday. The Spaniard defeated Matteo Berrettini 7: 6 (6), 6: 4 and 6: 1 and meets Daniil Medvedev in the final of the 2019 US Open.
by Jens Huiber
last edit: Sep 07, 2019, 04:11 am
By Jens Huiber from New York City
If you have the set win against Rafael Nadal on the racket, you could try something new. Or fall back on the variants that have given you this opportunity. Matteo Berrettini did the latter, opting for the 6: 5 tie-break break in the first set for the stop variant, which had worked wonderfully on the whole. But of course not this time, when things get tight, the tennis gods like to smile at the favorites. Nadal turned a 2: 5 into an 8: 6, in a set that he could have decided for himself earlier. The 18-time major champion had to take six unused break chances in the first act, in the first game of set two the next.
Berrettini, on the other hand, could not shine as a setback, as expected in the rallies Nadal massaged the backhand of the Italian, who had defeated Gael Monfils in the tiebreak of the fifth set in the quarterfinals. Berrettini did not show any tiredness for a long time, Nadal did not anyway. He almost missed a high lead against Diego Schwartzman twice, but had never been in danger of actually losing the match against the Argentine. So not that against Matteo Berrettini. After a playing time of 2:34 hours, Nadal closed the bag and moved into the final of the last major in 2019 with a 7: 6 (6), 6: 4 and 6: 1.
# BETATHOMEUS #
Nadal paved the way to victory with the first break of the match to 4: 3 in the second set, until then Berrettini had warded off all nine chances of the striker. He did not have a single one, consequently Nadal was allowed to sit on his bench after 2:04 hours with the certainty of a 2-0 set lead. The fact that Matteo Berrettini could no longer do anything does not speak against the outsider. Nadal started the last act with a break, put the next one on 4: 1. And one last to the final result.
Berrettini in ninth place in the race
In the final, Daniil Medvedev is waiting for Rafael Nadal on Sunday. The Russian had a tough fight with Grigor Dimitrov in the first set, but ultimately won 7: 6 (4), 6: 4 and 6: 3. Nadal and Medvedev only recently played against each other in Montreál, at that time the Russian claimed that he had not been able to access his highest energy level. Will this be the case in the first final of a Grand Slam tournament? Medvedev didn't have it easy from the start.
For Matteo Berrettini, on the other hand, the trip to New York was not only financially worthwhile (a whopping $ 960,000 was awarded for reaching the preliminary round, if before taxes), the 23-year-old Italian, already winner in Budapest and this year Stuttgart, suddenly finds himself in ninth place as a serious candidate in the race for a place at the ATP final in London. Nadal and Medvedev already have their place there.