Nadal books last- four spot in London
RAFAEL NADAL will face Daniil Medvedev in the last four of the Nitto ATP Finals after battling to a three- set victory over defending champion Stefanos Tsitsipas.
It was a winner- takes- all clash after both men lost to Dominic Thiem, but Nadal was upbeat about his level following his narrow defeat to the Austrian on Tuesday and showed here that optimism was justified with a 6- 4 4- 6 6- 2 victory.
Nadal served superbly up until an untimely double fault saw Tsitsipas pinch the second set, but the Spaniard, who has never won this title, responded well to reach the knockout stages for the sixth time.
Earlier in the day, Andrey Rublev claimed his first victory at the Finals in his dead- rubber clash with Dominic Thiem.
Debutant Rublev was already eliminated after two losses while Thiem’s brilliant victory over Nadal guaranteed him top spot in the group.
It was perhaps no surprise that Thiem experienced a comedown while Rublev, who missed a match point in his loss to Stefanos Tsitsipas, hit top form to win 6- 2 7- 5.
Meanwhile, Joe Salisbury and Rajeev Ram reached the doubles semi- finals at the Nitto ATP 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 Britain’s Salisbury and American Ram who triumphed 7- 6 ( 5) 6- 7 ( 4) 10- 4.
While the result was immaterial in terms of the future of the tournament, it still earned Rublev 200 ranking points and 153,000 US dollars ( approximately £ 114,000) in prize money.
That was more than enough of an incentive for the 23- yearold, who said: “For each player it’s a really important match
because they give 200 points, and it’s really a lot. And these points are going to stay all the year so it’s a huge advantage.”
The victory means Salisbury has made the last four at London’s O2 for the first time, while the Australian Open champions’ hopes of finishing the season as the world’s number one doubles pair are very much alive.
Their progress is especially impressive considering Salisbury only finished two weeks of isolation two days before their first match after his coach tested positive for coronavirus.
The Londoner said: “It’s really satisfying. Obviously it wasn’t the ideal preparation but I know I still had quite high expectations for us, really wanted to do well here, get out the group. Obviously we want to keep going. Two more matches to win.”
Elsewhere, Jamie Murray is to reunite with his former doubles partner Bruno Soares next season.
The pair split last spring, with Murray choosing to switch to fellow British player Neal Skupski, but he will be back with Brazilian Soares for 2021.
Murray won both his men’s doubles grand slam titles with Soares, the pair collecting the Australian Open and US Open trophies in 2016, while they qualified for the ATP Finals for three straight years.