ATP: Barcelona: Rafael Nadal to the semi-finals with a short tremor

Rafael Nadal has reached the semi-finals of the ATP-500 tournament in Barcelona after a clear victory over Martin Klizan. With this the Spaniard continues to chase one record after another.

Martin Klizan can be dangerous for any opponent on the tour. Also for Rafael Nadal. But not for a Nadal in the current constitution.

From the start, the Spaniard was the dominant player on the pitch and scored the first six points. The result was an immediate break and a 2-0 lead for the ten-time Barcelona winner. Klizan on the other side had certainly imagined the duel and the important initial phase differently. The Hamburg winner from 2016 is a sand court specialist and can do a lot of damage with his huge basic strokes, but he had to get to know his limits quickly. Ten minutes, 3-0 for Nadal.

After the second turn, Klizan found his way into the game better, used his strong forehand well and fought his way into the game several times on his own serve. That was all the Slovakian could do and the 5-0 from Klizan’s point of view was just a side note. Much more could be seen that the Spaniard on the other side does not reveal any weakness and does not want to give himself any nudity in Barcelona either.

The 6:0 sealed the 41st consecutive set win on clay for the Spaniard, who has been harmless on the Red Ashes since May 2017.

A 6:0 can give a player too much security. That seemed to have happened to Nadal for a short time and the Mallorcan gave up his serve at the beginning of the second round and gave Klizan his first lead in this quarter-final.

As a result, a completely different match developed than in set one and the spectators often saw Nadal on the defensive. Klizan increasingly took control and gained self-confidence. The left-hander remained in front and seemed not to want to grant Nadal the 42nd set in a row. The local hero became increasingly dissatisfied and the spectators heard a rare exclamation of the Spaniard, which was anything but positive.

Then it actually seemed like the time had come. Klizan had three set points to finish Nadal’s unbelievable success and equalize in the sets. The “Bull from Mannacor”, however, could not be defeated and fought off all three break points and equalized to 5:5. With Klizan the bat flew, Nadal clenched his fist and cheered loudly.

Nadal then served well and put his opponent under a lot of pressure with great tennis. Klizan left and Nadal forced the first match point of the match, which the Slovakian could fend off with a strong forehand winner. Nadal did not miss the second and booked the ticket for the semi-finals with the 42nd set win in a row.