Nadal’s win over Tsitsipas in vain as Zverev reaches semis
LONDON, (Reuters) - For the second time in three days at the ATP Finals, Rafael Nadal fought off one of the game’s rising powers but beating Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas proved in vain as his semi-final hopes vanished yesterday.
The indomitable Spaniard delighted his fans in the 02 Arena as he recovered from losing the opening set to beat Tsitsipas 67(4) 6-4 7-5, after which he was presented with a huge trophy for sealing the end-ofyear number one ranking.
Sadly for Nadal, and all those who were looking forward to him taking on Roger Federer in today’s semi-finals, Germany’s defending champion Alexander Zverev had not read the script.
The round-robin format at the ATP Finals throws up some complicated scenarios. None more so than yesterday.
Tsitsipas had already qualified for the semi-finals courtesy of wins over Daniil Medvedev and Zverev, while Nadal needed a win and for Medvedev to beat Zverev in the night match. Had that happened he would have topped the group. Instead, Zverev’s clinical 6-4 7-6(4) win relegated Nadal to third despite also having two wins. Tsitsipas won the group while Zverev took second place courtesy of his head-to-head advantage over Nadal who he beat impressively on Monday.
Perhaps it had been asking too much for the 23-year-old Medvedev to save him. After all, Nadal beat the Russian in an epic U.S. Open final, came back from 1-5 down in the third set to beat him here on Wednesday and then his win over Tsitsipas effectively ended Medvedev’s slim semi-final chances.
The Russian won more matches (59) then any other player this year but was not at his best against Zverev and went home from his London debut with three losses.
Tsitsipas must now recover from his near three-hour loss to Nadal to face Federer in today’s first semi-final before Zverev takes on Austrian Dominic Thiem.
Federer’s win to knock out Novak Djokovic on Thursday meant Nadal will end the year as number one for the fifth time. But the Herculean effort he put in to beat Tsitsipas suggested he really wanted to get his hands on the ATP Finals trophy for the first time after finishing runner-up in 2010 and 2013.
At least Nadal signed off in style. After winning a 12th French Open this year and the U.S. Open and reaching the final at the Australian Open and semi-final at Wimbledon, few could deny him his trophy celebration on Friday.
“Honestly, what can I say? I am super happy,” Nadal, the oldest man to finish a year ranked number one, told the crowd. “After all the things that I went through in my career in terms of injuries, I never thought at the age of 33 and a half that I will have this trophy in my hands again.”
Tsitsipas had not dropped a set before yesterday and duly took the opening set with an ace to clinch a tiebreak.
Nadal was never going down without a fight though and began to play with a frightening intensity in the second set, pumping himself up with roars of “Vamos” after winning key points.