With the cap on his head, Diego Schwartzman is Daniel the Naughty. He works like a termite and does not take refuge in the shouts and gestures of his rival, who tries to intimidate him. Nadal has seen him return from an adverse 4-0 to equal four and have two break balls that could lead him out to take the first set. He contemplates returning to the second, this time from 5-1 to 5-5. But the left-hander, less bright than on other occasions after a superb start, endures, pulls ex officio and exaggerates the scenery, because he knows the difficult trances and knows how to deploy resources until he takes the first two sets. The Argentine weighs the moment when defining.

Nadal, who was treated for cramps in the arms during the third quarter, refines until reducing the expectations of the Argentine. The world number two is imposed by 6-4, 7-5 and 6-2, in two hours and 47 minutes, qualifying for the semifinals of the US Open, where he will face Matteo Berrettini, who beat Gael Monfils in the tiebreaker of the fifth set, in the Spanish dawn of Saturday. Last year he had to retire in the penultimate round due to injury when he lost to Juan Martín del Potro.

All the circumstances of the tournament greet the future of Nadal. The last big to fall was Roger Federer, champion of the tournament and the only man who has defeated him in the last 27 games, defeated by Grigor Dimitrov in the quarterfinals. As it happened in 2017, year in which he achieved his third title in New York, Nadal, can be planted in the final without having crossed any of the top 20. If then he played with Lajovic (85º), Daniel (121º), Mayer (59º), Dolgopolov (64º), Rublev (53º) and Del Potro (28º), before beating Anderson (32º) in the final, this time He has done it before Millman (62º), Chung (170º), Cilic (23º) and Schwartzman (21º), waiting for Berrettini (25º), debuting in the semifinals of a Grand Slam. In the second round he did not need to jump to the court by causing a loss due to injury Kokkinakis, 203º.

"I'm fine. It was a very hard day. In these conditions it is difficult. I had some critical moments at the end of the second set and the beginning of the third, but with the hydration and stretching I managed to solve the problems," he said after the meeting.

Finest at the defining moments

Without making his best game, he beat a Schwartzman who knows how to play as few do. The Argentine opens track with his crossed back and has remarkable tactical wealth, which allows him to take the initiative on many occasions. But Nadal marks distances in the decisive sets. He is faced with an almost unbeatable situation to add his nineteenth Grand Slam title and is not willing to let it pass. Gerard Piqué, present at Arthur Ashe with Shakira, observes him. Do not miss Manu Ginobili, guest of height in the Argentine box .

Schwartzman, which does not reach 1.70, is a source of inspiration, a model of how, starting from the necessary dose of talent, you can try to compete at high level with intelligence and enthusiasm as main arguments. In a circuit where more and more Herculean players are imposed, the Peque , as he is known, is an adversary always uncomfortable, able to replace his physical limitations with a good reading of the game and a bomb-proof record. Only he started a set to Nadal in his merciless step towards the eleventh Roland Garros, last year, in a match where the Argentine was harmed by the interruption caused by the rain.

In New York he demanded the Spaniard again, but he left with his eighth defeat in as many clashes. It is, and it is not little, the pride of competing as not many do against the Spanish. Nobody has squeezed him so much in this US Open. Not even Marin Cilic, although he was able to score a partial.

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  • Rafael Nadal
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  • Roger Federer
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