Rafa Nadal consummates his revenge against Zverev and gets into the semifinals of Rome

Rafael Nadal’s revenge does not take long, and Alexander Zverev can attest to it. After what happened in Madrid, where the German separated the Spanish from ‘his’ tournament in the quarterfinals, the nine-time champion in Rome redeemed himself with a great game that gives him the pass to the semifinals and dismisses Sascha from the eternal city. Nadal was superior (6-3, 6-4) in almost everything to Zverev, changing the recipe for one of success, and continues to dream of a title in Rome for which he only has two obstacles left. The first, on Saturday in the semifinals, will be the North American of 2.11 Reilly Opelka.Nadal knew that he could not repeat the strategy carried out at the Mutua Madrid Open, where he waited for the German giant to attack him to try to counter, take over the party. Not only did he not succeed, but he was clearly defeated against a theoretically inferior opponent on the ground. In Rome, Rafa soon took the initiative, and hit him with everything from the back of the court, knowing that he had to start by sending so that the almost three and a half hours of Thursday’s duel against Shapovalov did not weigh too much. The key plan for Rafa was morality, the one that had weighed so much in the Magic Box against Sascha after that clamorous ball, failed with a break in favor in the first set. From there, Nadal collapsed like a house of cards, leaving the party at the mercy of his rival. In Rome, the blows would also come from the wrist of one of the most talented players and punchers on the circuit, but Rafael had to be the wall that he used to. The court also helped Nadal.Slower than in Madrid, where the height sets a trend and does so against the king of the surface, the Campo Centrale in Rome woke up cloudy, making the mat slower if possible, and more conducive to Rafa holding the service missiles, Zverev forehand and backhand. With time to react, the Spaniard could dominate in the give and take that the exchanges entailed and once there, confident of forehand and backhand, he began to establish differences.The start was unbeatable, with a favorable 4-0 that would have knocked down the former Zverev, but not this version of German, much more focused and confident in its possibilities. The German would recover one of the lost aces, taking advantage of the fact that Nadal continues somewhat irregular with his service, but Rafa repositioned his ideas in time and, lifting a break point in the decisive game, closed the first set in his favor by 6-3. Thrown into the semi-finals The match was of outstanding quality, with one tennis player injured and eager for revenge and another who, despite a disastrous start, was confident in his moment of form to enter the semi-finals. Thus, the second set was a battle of power to power in which each game lasted until one of the two contestants gave his arm to twist out of pure obligation. In this affront, it was again Nadal who distanced himself thanks to experience and his innate ability to place one more ball on the court. Their games were very even but Zverev had missed one along the way, and this placed Nadal in the balcony of victory. Again I expected suffering, with a Sascha who did not turn his back on the triumph and continued to believe, to unsuspected heights, despite the constant traps set by Rafa.The German forced break balls up to three times, but in all of them, by ho by b, he ended up failing. It was the day of Nadal’s revenge, who is already in the semifinals at the Foro Italico and threatens not to stop winning.