Goffin cries foul as Nadal advances

DEFENDING champion Rafael Nadal beat David Goffin 6-3, 6-1 yesterday to move within one more win of a 10th Monte Carlo Masters title and his first of the season. Nadal will play 15thseeded Albert Ramos-Vinolas in an all-Spanish final after the latter beat Lucas Pouille of France 6-3, 5-7, 6-1.

Although the score suggests a comfortable win for Nadal, Goffin’s momentum was halted by a controversial decision by chair umpire Cedric Mourier in the sixth game. Goffin was asked to replay game point after holding his serve for what would have been a 4-2 lead.

‘All of a sudden you have a mistake like the chair umpire did, it’s really tough,’ said Goffin who was incensed at what he called an improvised decision by Mourier to point at a mark that didn’t correspond.

‘He just showed me something, I don’t know what,’ Goffin said. ‘I saw on his face that he was nervous, he wasn’t sure.’

Nadal’s celebrations were muted after clinching victory on his third match point and he sympathetically hugged Goffin at the net. He then shook Mourier’s hand, but Goffin walked straight past him.

‘I have nothing against Cedric, he’s a very nice guy,’ Goffin said.

Nadal is through to his fourth final of the season. He lost the other three, two of them to Roger Federer, including at the Australian Open. His opponent, Ramos-Vinolas, now into his first Masters final, has lost his two previous matches against Nadal.