Roland Garros will have its great dominator in the semifinals. The best in history on clay hit the table in a match of maximum difficulty, in which Diego Schwartzman threatened to slip into the very limited list of those who dared to overthrow the king. But Rafael Nadal refused to be overthrown and with a majestic function, he knocked down Peque (6-3, 4-6, 6-4, 6-0) in four sets and gets fully into the fight for the title, the which would be the fourteenth in Paris. Now he awaits Berrettini or the most likely opponent, Novak Djokovic, in the semifinals.
The Roland Garros quarterfinals featured a classic clay duel, a clash of styles between Nadal and Schwartzman, two warriors with their adoration for clay as a common element. The head to head between the two, with a 10-1 favorable to the Balearic Islands, did not do justice to a rivalry between two true titans on clay. The king of the earth against the gladiator. Show guaranteed at the Philippe Chatrier.
After their victories against Popyrin, Gasquet, Norrie and Sinner , practically immaculate, the Spaniard was the first specialist on a sunny afternoon in Paris, conducive to displaying his best game before the Parisian public. Everything seemed ready for a new resounding victory for Rafa, everything except the rival, a Peque Schwartzman who, after an irregular dirt tour, had found his best game at Roland Garros. Four games and four sweeps. Not a partial lost.
The first set of the meeting, therefore, was going to have an extra incentive. One of the two contenders would lose his partial unbeaten in the tournament. Nadal , forceful to serve, had to wait for Schwartzman to leave a loophole in his weak point, the service. The first two break balls in the fourth were unsuccessful, but the next time, in the sixth, the Spaniard took the game in white, placing himself at the gates of victory.
Nadal strikes first
Peque is used to living this scenario in his matches, with a break that is answered with another, the result of his perseverance and quality to the rest. No sooner said than done. Schwartman broke Rafa’s service and returned equality to the contest ahead of schedule, although the tornado of breaks had not ended. Focused on his game and not on the stain in the record that the break was supposed to, Nadal shot right and flats and accumulated a new break, this time the final one to tie the first set 6-3.
Rafa had struck first, and this is usually synonymous with victory. Accustomed to succeeding in Paris over and over again, Nadal was not willing to give in early in 2021, but Schwartzman made him fall into the temptation, with a minimal relaxation that, in a seen and not seen, translated into a 3- 0 favorable to the Argentine.
These two are putting on quite a show today 🤩#RolandGarros | @RafaelNadal | @dieschwartzman pic.twitter.com/MoBUNYQeJe
— Roland-Garros (@rolandgarros) June 9, 2021
The Peque is the official ‘heavy’ of the circuit, a tennis player worthy of admiration for his small physique, his strength in this same plane and mentally, and the extreme quality of his shots under pressure. This cocktail is the one that has led him to hover around top 10 positions for years and the one that allowed him to unhinge Nadal , which yes, would come back momentarily to put the equalizer before the turning point of the set.
Schwartzman’s merit reaction
With the wind in favor after breaking his rival and the advantage of winning 13 times! on the same stage, there was nothing that seemed to be able to stop Nadal, but Schwartzman did not think the same. The Peque took strength from weakness, with more than an hour of deadly exchanges that made the public go crazy and put one more ball, causing the appearance of – almost – never seen in the Nadal combo – beaten earth: unforced errors.
Rafa was overconfident in the decisive game and wasted a favorable 30-0 with errors that left him at the mercy of Peque . With set point against, came the tactical debacle. A left that did not touch and came out almost like a balloon translated into the tables on the scoreboard. 6-4 for Schwartzman and start over for both. Match to three sets in the Chatrier.
The worst thing for Nadal was not the loss of the set, but the absolute sold out in the Argentine’s confidence for the rest of the game. The Peque ran to each ball regardless of who was in front or the wear that this entailed and the stands, once again jealous of Rafa’s endless triumphs, raised the rival of the thirteen-time champion in search of a new non-Spanish winner in Paris.
*Vintage @RafaelNadal has entered the chat* 😯#RolandGarros pic.twitter.com/vu6dPX7h83
— Roland-Garros (@rolandgarros) June 9, 2021
Equality only came in the service of Nadal , resolved with determination by the king of the land, focused and successful with his serve. The Peque , on the other hand, practically did not give up points, making Rafa wear himself out while he, apparently, endured physically and mentally. Schwartzman erased the lines while Nadal lamented his own mistakes, but the result was still a tie at 4-4 and that became the best news for the Spanish interests.
At 35 just turned 35 and on a table where he was crowned for the first time 16 years ago, Nadal knows all the ins and outs of the tournament, the track, and his own performance at key moments in Paris, and did nothing more than rummage through his album hard in pursuit of finding the solution to the severe problems posed by Schwartzman . And as always, he found the solution.
The king of the earth wakes up on time
After maintaining a key service, Nadal shed the ties that had limited him to the rest and was reducing point by point to his rival, surprised by the resurrection of a Rafa who had not left, he was only dozing. From there, sew and sing for the Balearic, who firmly closed the third, remaining just one of the semifinals.
The battle did not have such a large minute counter, but the combination of the wear and tear of the exchanges and the duration of the exchanges kept both players exhausted. Thus, the blows for the loser are suffered twice, while the moral victor is endowed with his own confidence to make a dent in his opponent.
The beginning of the fourth, as could be foreseen, benefited the winner of the third, a Nadal who had placed sixth with only one goal: the semifinals. The games fell one after another on the Balearic side, while the Peque resigned himself to a new defeat , the eleventh against the king of the earth, unleashed and making his rival surrender and an audience once again surrendered to a new exhibition by Rafael Nadal Stop.
