Semifinals Nadal gets serious, Carreño despairs and will play his first final of the year against Tsitsipas
Three years after their first date in a sequence that is on the way to acquiring the category of classic,
Rafael Nadal
and
Stefanos Tsitsipas meet
again this Sunday in the final of the Conde de Godó (4:00 p.m., 1 a.m.). The party comes in a sweet trance for both. The Spanish, 11 times champion of the tournament, recovered from
Pablo Carreño
(6-3, 6-2) in the semifinals the game that he had been missing in recent days, after the defeat suffered against
Andrey Rublev
in the quarterfinals of the Masters 1000 of Monte Carlo.
The 22-year-old Greek is in the prime of his career.
He was champion in the Principality without giving up a set and keeps his racket impenetrable after defeating Jannik Sinner by a double 6-3.
The last man to beat him a set was
Huber Hurkacz
, in the Miami quarterfinals.
"He is the best Tsitsipas I have seen. He will play very safe. I do not know if I have taken enough steps. I hope I am ready. I have to play longer with my
drive
towards his backhand. It is an important game for me; more Beyond the result, I hope to compete well, "Nadal said just after his meeting with Carreño, where he raised the tone of his game several notches.
Self-critical
Always eager to improve, the left-hander was inclined towards self-criticism, but it is evident that he was quite similar to the consummate clay specialist we have known for more than three decades, the player who aspires to win for the fourteenth time Roland Garros and surpass 20 titles
Roger Federer's
Grand Slam
.
He improved with his service, fragile in the closest commitments, he commanded the game and, when necessary, built a fort on the back line, from which he replicated Carreño's desperate offenses.
It will be this reborn Nadal, still short of kilometers in this unique season, in which he has only played in Australia and Monte Carlo before joining his club, who will face Tsitsipas.
It was precisely in Melbourne where the Greek stopped him in the quarterfinals, after lifting two adverse sets.
The Monte Carlo resident tennis player has a 2-6 adverse face-to-face with his opponent this Sunday, but he has also surpassed him on clay: he managed to beat him in the semifinals of the 2019 Mutua Madrid Open. That 6-2, 6 -1 embedded in the final of the Godó three years ago seems to come from a remote time.
Tsitsipas has grown a lot since then.
He has six titles, including the 2019 ATP Finals, has just won his first Masters 1000 and has already beaten Federer and
Djokovic
a couple of times.
The victory against
Jannik Sinner
, finalist in Miami, reaffirms his formidable form.
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