Nadal powers into French Open semi-finals
PARIS: Clay court master Rafael Nadal passed his first real test of this year’s French Open with a 7-6(4), 6-4, 6-1 victory against rising star Jannik Sinner (Italy).
With the win on Tuesday, the Spaniard’s quest for a record-breaking 13th Roland Garros title gathered momentum. Nadal, also looking to match Roger Federer’s record of 20 Grand Slam men’s singles titles, was stretched by the 19-year-old Sinner.
However, the World No.2 set up a clash with Argentine Diego Schwartzman, who defeated Austrian third seed Dominic Thiem 7-6(1), 5-7, 6-7(6), 7-6(5), 6-2. On Wednesday, Greek fifth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas reached his second Grand Slam semi-final as he raised his game after a slow start to defeat Russian Andrey Rublev 7-5, 6-2, 6-3.
Before the quarter-final clash, the 13th-seeded Rublev had won both previous tour-level meetings against fellow 22-year-old Tsitsipas. The Russian looked set to keep his record intact as he served for the first set at 5-4.
But, Tsitsipas then won three straight games to take the opener. The Greek did not look back from there and broke his opponent three more times in the next two sets. Meanwhile, in women’s singles, fourth seed Sofia Kenin claimed her maiden French Open semi-final spot as she fought back in a 6-4, 4-6, 6-0 victory against fellow American Danielle Collins. The Australian Open champion was kept on her toes for two sets before strolling through the decider to set up a clash with Czech seventh seed Petra Kvitova. Collins was bothered by abdominal pains in the third set and was unable to give her maximum effort.
“This is really special, I am super happy. I did a good job overall. I guess I like winning the match in three sets. I know it is tough, but I am getting the job done,” said an elated Kenin. Kvitova put in a powerful display to breeze past unseeded German Laura Siegemund 6-3, 6-3.