Rafael Nadal has reached the final at the ATP-Masters in Shanghai.The Spaniard won against Marin Cilic in two extremely intense sets of 7:5 and 7:6 (4).Roger Federer will face Juan Martin del Potro in the second semi-final.
At the start of the first semi-final, it was clear that the match between Nadal and Cilic would be tight.After 20 minutes, it was barely 2-1 and the players were able to recover for the first time after a short break.
Cilic tried again and again to pull Nadal’s tooth with his crackling forehand, but the Croatian made a total of 40 unforced mistakes, while Nadal had the better end with 23 victories.
At 5:5 in the first set, Cilic suddenly had three break points, but Nadal defended her with a strong service.Only one game later Nadal got break chances, which he used after 67 minutes to win the set.
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In the second set, the Spaniard looked like the sure winner: Nadal served at 5-4 on the match, but Cilic managed to break, and the Mallorcan had to give up his serve for the first time ever in the course of the tournament.It went into the tiebreak, where Nadal’s class finally prevailed.
The 31-year-old is now in his second career in the final of Shanghai.Nadal lost the first one to Nikolai Davydenko in 2009.Nadal also pulls out with his 871.Career victory in the eternal ranking list passed Andre Agassi and is now seventh.
In the second semi-final, Roger Federer and Juan Martin del Potro will be reopening the quarter-finals of the US Open.The Argentinean has to watch his left wrist, which he bruised against Viktor Troicki a round before.