Nadal made of the right Stef
Spaniard dumps champ to reach semis
RAFA NADAL kept alive his hopes of winning the year-ending ATP Finals for the first time as he beat defending champ Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-4 4-6 6-2 late last night.
The last round-robin match in the London Group was a straight knockout with both men having lost to Dominic Thiem and beaten Andrey Rublev earlier in the week.
But it was Spaniard Nadal who always appeared the likely winner despite a lapse which allowed his Greek opponent to extend the contest into a decider at a near-deserted O2 Arena.
After a flurry of service breaks at the start of the third set, the 34-year-old Nadal pulled away to reach the semi-finals for the first time in five years.
As group runner-up behind Thiem, he will face Daniil Medvedev for a place in the final with the Russian assured of top spot in the Tokyo Group.
Nadal said: “I think I played quite well for such a long time. That game at 5-4 in the second affected me a little bit but I was able to get the break early in the third, then he broke me and I broke again.
“I was winning serves quite comfortably until then, after that everything changed and I started to serve worse.
“But in general terms it was a positive match for me. To reach the semi-finals in the last tournament of the year is an important thing.”
Earlier, Rublev claimed his first victory at the Finals in his dead-rubber tie with Thiem.
It was perhaps no surprise that Thiem experienced a comedown while Rublev hit top form to win 6-2 7-5.
The third seed from Austria will face the winner of today’s clash between Novak Djokovic and Alexander Zverev in the last four.
In the doubles Britain’s Joe Salisbury and Rajeev Ram reached the semi-finals with a tense victory over French Open champions Kevin Krawietz and Andreas Mies.
It was a winner-takes-all clash and that showed, with nerves on display from all the players, but in the end it was Salisbury and American Ram who won 7-6(5) 6-7(4) 10-4.