Nadal drops set but moves into French Open semifinals
PARIS, June 9, (AP): Rafael Nadal’s French Open set streak is over. His pursuit of a record-breaking 21st Grand Slam title - including 14 at Roland Garros - remains very much intact.
Nadal shrugged off dropping a set in Paris for the first time in two years and regained control Wednesday, whipping violent forehands punctuated with first pumps and yells of “Vamos!” en route to a 6-3, 4-6, 6-4, 6-0 victory over 10thseeded Diego Schwartzman to reach the semifinals at the clay-court major tournament.
Nadal, who turned 35 last week, is now 105-2 for his career at Roland Garros.
He is just two wins from eclipsing the men’s mark for most total Grand Slam singles championships that he currently shares with Roger Federer.
In addition to his 13 trophies at Roland Garros - four in a row from 200508, five in a row from 2010-14 and another four in a row so far since 2017 - the Spanish left-hander won four titles
TENNIS
at the U.S. Open, two at Wimbledon and one at the Australian Open.
There are four first-time Grand Slam semifinalists left in the women’s bracket, something that last happened at the 1978 Australian Open.
In Wednesday’s quarterfinals, No. 17 seed Maria Sakkari ended Iga Swiatek’s title defense by beating her 6-4, 6-4, and unseeded Barbora Krejcikova stopped the run of 17-yearold Coco Gauff 7-6 (6), 6-3. So Sakkari faces Krejcikova on Thursday, when the other semifinal will be No. 31 Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova against unseeded Tamara Zidansek.
Nadal entered his quarterfinal with a 35-set run at Roland Garros that began during the 2019 final. That grew to 36 on Wednesday, before Schwartzman outplayed him for a stretch, surprisingly winning more of their exchanges that lasted at least nine strokes.
Ah, but what matters is who wins the match, and Nadal asserted himself quickly after Schwartzman was ahead 4-3 in the third.
Nadal would not drop another game, breaking to go up 5-4, before holding at love to take the third set. Then he broke again to open the fourth and really remove any remaining sense of suspense.
Schwartzman - now 1-11 against Nadal, including a loss in the 2020 French
Open semifinals - started muttering to himself and bounced his racket off the clay a moment before getting broken again to trail 3-0 in fourth.
When one last forehand from defending champion Iga Swiatek landed wide in the French Open quarterfinals, Maria Sakkari crouched on Court Philippe
Chatrier and bowed her head, relishing the moment.
Sakkari is still two wins away from lifting the trophy, but Wednesday’s victory means she’s already in new territory - just like the other three women left in the draw.
Sakkari ended Swiatek’s 11-match and 22-set winning streaks at Roland Garros by beating her 6-4, 6-4 Wednesday to guarantee that there will be a first-time Grand Slam champion when the tournament ends.
On Thursday, the 17th-seeded Sakkari
Sakkari
plays unseeded Barbora Krejcikova in the semifinals, and No. 31 Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova faces unseeded Tamara Zidansek. All four are making their Slam semifinal debuts.
Krejcikova advanced Wednesday by eliminating 17-year-old Coco Gauff 7-6 (6), 6-3.
This is only the second time in the professional era that there has been four first-time semifinalists at any major tournament, according to the WTA. It also happened at the 1978 Australian Open.
Krejcikova has won two Grand Slam doubles titles with Katerina Siniakova and they’re into the semifinals in Paris - but is playing in only her fifth major tournament in singles.
Look at her now. She’s ranked a career-high 33rd and on a 10-match winning streak in singles.
Krejcikova ended the nine-match run of the 24th-seeded Gauff, who is based in Florida and was the youngest French Open quarterfinalist since 2006.
Gauff’s 41 unforced errors included seven double-faults - and after one, she mangled her racket frame by whacking it three times against the ground.
Spain’s Rafael Nadal plays a forehand to Argentina’s Diego Schwartzman during their quarterfinal match of the French Open tennis tournament at the Roland Garros stadium in Paris. (AP)