Nadal overwhelms del Potro to reach 11th French Open nal
Rafael Nadal improved to 11-0 in French Open semifinals. To get to 11-0 in French Open nals, he’ll need to get past the only man who has beaten him on red clay over the last two seasons.
After dealing with some tight moments early, Nadal overwhelmed 2009 U.S. Open champion Juan Martin del Potro 6-4, 6-1, 6-2 the rest of the way Friday.
e No. 1-ranked Nadal compiled a 35-20 edge in winners while making only 19 unforced errors Friday.
Nadal saved three break points at 1-all in the opening set and another three at 4-all. After he held there, that was pretty much that for del Potro.
Nadal broke to take that set and was on his way, taking 14 of the last 17 games.
“ e rst set was very di cult, with too many chances for Juan Martin,” Nadal said. “I am a little bit fortunate to win the rst set.”
is was the No. 5-seeded del Potro’s rst semi nal at Roland Garros since 2009. He missed the tournament every year from 2013 to 2016 because of injuries, including three operations on his left wrist. In the fourth game Friday, del Potro clutched at his left hip after being wrong-footed by one shot from Nadal and was visited by a doctor at the next changeover.
Soon enough, he was yelling at himself, the very picture of exasperation thanks to Nadal’s relentless ball-tracking and shotmaking.
On Sunday, Nadal will face No. 7 seed Dominic iem, a 24-yearold Austrian who reached his rst Grand Slam nal by ending the surprising run of 72nd-ranked Marco Cecchinato of Italy 7-5, 7-6 (10), 6-1.
Over the past two seasons, Nadal is 49-2 on red clay, with both losses coming against iem — in the quarter nals at Rome in May 2017 and the quarter nals at Madrid in May 2018.
“He’s an amazing player,” Nadal said. “He’s a player with big power. He’s playing with big con dence ... I know I have to play at my best. I know I have to improve a little bit.”
One big di erence in this meeting is that those two matches that went iem’s way were bestof-three-set events. e French Open, like all Grand Slam tournaments, is best-of- ve for men.
Nadal is now 85-2 for his career at Roland Garros, with a record 10 championships. He is 110-2 in all best-of- ve matches on red clay.
“He’s a big favourite against everybody,” iem said. “Still, I know how to play against him. I have a plan.”
iem has been to the semi nals in Paris three years in a row. He lost to eventual champions Novak Djokovic in 2016 and Nadal in 2017.
is time, iem instead faced Cecchinato, a 25-year-old from Sicily who never had won a Grand Slam match until this tournament and was the lowest-ranked men’s semifinalist at the claycourt major in 19 years. Cecchinato was accused of match- xing and suspended for 18 months in 2016, but he appealed, and his punishment was dropped on a technicality.
After dropping the first two sets he played in the opening round, Cecchinato came back to win that match in ve sets, then proceeded to string together upsets. He beat No. 10 seed Pablo Carreno Busta in the third round and No. 8 David Goffin in the fourth before stunning 12-time major champion Djokovic in the quarter nals.