The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
Nadal tops Djokovic in quarterfinal thriller
PARIS — Rafael Nadal has beaten Novak Djokovic 6-2, 4-6, 6-2, 7-6 (4) in a monumental match in the French Open quarterfinals to move a step closer to his 14th championship at the clay-court Grand Slam tournament and 22nd major trophy overall.
The match began a little past 9 p.m. Tuesday night and concluded more than four hours later, after 1 a.m.
Nadal ended the topseeded Djokovic’s bid for a second consecutive title at the French Open. He also made sure Djokovic remains behind him in the Slam count with 20.
Nadal improved to 110-3 for his career at Roland Garros. Two of those losses came against Djokovic, including in last year’s semifinals.
This showdown was the 59th of their careers, more than any other two men have played each other in the Open era. Nadal narrowed Djokovic’s lead to 30-29.
Nadal turns 36 on Friday, when he will face thirdseeded Alexander Zverev in the semifinals.
A lot of folks were predicting that 19-year-old rising star Carlos Alcaraz would leave this French Open as the champion. He might some day. Not yet. Instead, it’s Zverev who still has a shot at his first Grand Slam title.
Zverev put an end to Alcaraz’s 14-match winning streak by holding him off to win 6-4, 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 (7) on Tuesday night, reaching the semifinals at Roland Garros for the second year in a row.
“I told him at the net, ‘You’re going to win this tournament a lot of times, not just once,’” said the third-seeded Zverev, the runner-up at the U.S. Open in 2020 and the gold medalist at the Tokyo Olympics last summer. “I hope I can win it before he starts … beating us all.”
Alcaraz entered the quarterfinals with a tour-leading four titles and 32-3 record this season, 20-1 on clay. That includes a victory over the 25-year-old Zverev in the final of the Madrid Open on May 8 — which followed Alcaraz’s wins against Nadal and Djokovic there, making the teen the first player ever to beat both of those greats at the same tournament on the surface.
At Roland Garros, sixthseeded Alcaraz was trying to become the youngest semifinalist since Nadal at 19 in 2005.
Zverev, though, managed to fix a notable blemish on his resume: The German
began the afternoon with a 0-11 record in Grand Slam matches against opponents in the top 10 of the ATP rankings.
“At the end of the day,” Zverev said, “I knew that I had to play my absolute best tennis today from the start on.”
He sure got that start he wanted, staking himself to a two-set lead by using every bit of his 6-foot-6 (1.98meter) frame to move into position for his free-swinging, ball-stinging groundstrokes.
Alcaraz, in contrast, was not at his highest level, accumulating 32 unforced errors over the first two sets alone, 17 more than Zverev in that span. Alcaraz finished with 56, Zverev with 34.
The spectators at Court Philippe Chatrier seemed to have their favorite from early on, regaling Alcaraz by singing his first name and responding with approval to his fist pumps and shouts of “Vamos!” — particularly as he made more of a match of things by cleaning up his strokes and using his usual array of drop shots to great effect.
After dropping the third set, Zverev served for the match at 5-4 in the fourth but got broken when Alcaraz ripped a backhand winner that left him screaming and pumping his fist — and riled up the crowd.
Then, in the ensuing tiebreaker, Alcaraz held a set point at 6-5.
“The match,” Zverev said, “was turning his way.”