A diminished Nadal appeals to courage and intelligence to beat Fritz in the `supertiebreak'

One game from defeat, in the most difficult of his service attributions, Nadal equalized at five in the fourth set with an

Nothing exceptional if we did not write about a match where the Spaniard suffered an abdominal injury that compromised his service almost from the beginning, until the shadow of abandonment floated over the Central.

Nadal is Nadal.

We have known this for many years.

We can corroborate it with the passage of time, which only he seems capable of stopping.

After seeing him reclined on several occasions, with obvious gestures of pain, leaning on the canvas at one of the ends of the court with his head down,

.

But the Spanish did it again.

He won 3-6, 7-5, 3-6, 7-5 and 7-6 (10-3) in four hours and 20 minutes, and will seek this Friday against Nick Kyrgios, who won Christian Garin in three sets , his sixth final in a tournament that he won in 2008 and 2010. The weight of his history was unbearable for the American, unable to capitalize on a favorable situation, somewhat similar to the one he experienced a few months ago in the Indian Wells final, where then he could win, with Nadal affected by a crack in the ribs.

.

The intelligence and courage of the left-hander had a lot to do with his fall, who, in the absence of forcefulness with the service, of everything that the speed of that blow implies, and even more so on grass, chose the directions well, with accurate serves cut, and sent his opponent running down the court with a select sample of blows.

Physiotherapist care

After overcoming a break ball and struggling to save his serve in the seventh game of the second set, Nadal left the court to be treated by the tournament physiotherapist.

Something strange was happening.

He made a reclining gesture of pain in the final stretch of the first set and another even more eloquent one in the middle of the second.

Something strange happened when the Spaniard had lost the advantage he had gained from the start in both sets.

Without detracting from Fritz, a good player, whose serve makes the difference, Nadal was down, without the drive of his great start to the match, touched, with little in common with the sparkling tennis player of the last two games, the man who was beginning to emerge as one of the clearest favorites for the title.

Far from taking advantage of the contingency, Fritz took a step back when he saw him wounded.

Nadal saved his serve again in the ninth and eleventh games and applied himself boldly to try to deal with the severe physical mishap.

Once he put the ball in circulation, he found the return to the American.

The crowd came to the rescue.

Nadal not only resisted with the serve, but then broke and equalized a set.

Given the circumstances, a good part of his future went through not being two partials down.

It is never easy to face a diminished opponent and Fritz, who played with a protection on his left leg, was at times confused by the situation.

But the double winner of the tournament was on the limit.

He slipped away in the third set as well, conceding another two new

.

Once the situation was reversed in the fourth set, after a new visit to the locker room, the last one already took on a more normal dynamic, with both players saving their turns to serve and Nadal already doing it at a higher speed, with no signs of pain.

He broke in game seven, hitting the bullseye with the fifth bullet, but Fritz was not about to give up.

He broke back and went all the way to the

where he would die on the second match point.

As in the third round of the 2021 Australian Open, then against Novak Djokovic

, Fritz missed out on victory despite playing an opponent with an abdominal injury.

then prevailed in five sets.

Days later he raised the glass.

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