It represents an anomaly that

Rafael Nadal

loses in the Monte Carlo quarter-finals and leaves two sets in his first two matches at the Conde de Godó, one of them, on Wednesday, against

Illya Ivashka

, the first yielded to a tennis player below the

top 100

since 2013. In the round of 16 it was

Kei Nishikori

who surprised the Spaniard with an estimable reaction after taking an entry donut, before ending up losing 6-0, 2-6 and 6-2, in two hours and 19 minutes. Nadal will face

Cameron Norrie

this Friday (4:00 p.m., Teledeporte)

, whom he beat in three sets in their only previous meeting, a few months ago, in the third round of the Australian Open.

The 2016 final is a second round today at the Conde de Godó. Nadal hasn't moved too much, he's almost where he was; several steps later, we would say, without being hit by the erosion of time. Nishikori, 31, three years younger than the Spaniard, has fallen a lot since he was number four in the world, victim of long periods on the shoulder due to shoulder and elbow injuries. Nothing is as it was, not even at the Real Club de Tenis Barcelona, ​​which hosts the match on the Rafael Nadal court with only 1,000 people as witnesses, a consequence of the restrictions due to the pandemic.

Unlike Wednesday's game against Ivashka, the 11-time winner of the tournament starts more awake, also favored by the conditions of the court, on a more spring day than his debut.

Come back from 40-15 to break in the second game and save two

break

balls

below.

He widens the score on his side, just started the dispute: 3-0.

The basics of Japanese

Nishikori retains its essence. He pretends to be dynamic, fine to the rest and with the power of anticipation, but he has lost his edge in his racket and comes from two tough games, the most recent on Tuesday against Cristian Garín, and with little distance behind. He does not resist the attacks of the adversary, which is similar to the one in the first two rounds of Monte Carlo, when he executed

Delbonis

and

Dimitrov

.

The Japanese, double champion in Godó, takes a 6-0 that seems to make explicit the current distance between one and the other. Nadal needs to regain self-esteem after the last two games, display the questioned authority, the ways of the tennis player who aspires to win his fourteenth Roland Garros title in a few weeks and thus surpass

Roger Federer's

20 greats

. He still lacks that mark that distinguishes him on this surface, sees his serve too compromised and does not govern the game as usual.

The one from Simane pulls with pride, transforms his fourth break ball and reverses the situation at the beginning of the second set. Get open angles with the backhand, send, force the manacorense to entrench himself away from the line. He has two balls to go 4-1 and serve, but he does not refine in the selection of shots. He does make an identical offer profitable two games later. Nadal continues to suffer with the service and has a consummate receiver in front of him. The Japanese makes the break good and equals a set.

There is an important moment at the beginning of the third, with 0-40 for Nishikori, who loses the game and begins to be weighed down by the lack of success when it comes to expressing the threats on the Spanish service.

It will happen again in Nadal's next serve turn: one more option for Kei.

He will go with two converts of 13 attempts.

It will be Nadal who makes him pay the concessions next, in an opinion that already has plenty of jurisprudence. He goes 3-1 and there will be no going back.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

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