Rafael Nadal has reached the semi-finals of the Wimbledon tournament and remains on track for his third title on Church Road after Roger Federer’s retirement. The 32-year-old beat Juan Martin Del Potro 7:5, 6:7(7) 4:6, 6:4 and 6:4 after a hard fight and will now face Novak Djokovic in a real semi-final crash.
“What an emotional match, I am so happy about this victory,” Nadal said after the match. “Last year I got it in just under a fifth set, this time I’m the winner. The level in the last set was incredible, we had some really good rallies. “I’m sorry for Juan Martin, he played an incredible match.”
Friday was the 52nd duel with Djokovic – there was no other match on the ATP Tour. “Now I’m happy, but it’s time to regenerate again,” said Nadal, because he knows: “My next opponent is one of the toughest in this sport.”
The first set against Del Potro was balanced for a long time, both players produced strong tennis from the beginning. For the first time Del Potro had to face a 15:40 at 3:4, but he was able to fend off both break chances. In the twelfth game, however, Nadal used his second break point by increasingly attacking Del Potro’s backhand to win the set.
In the second round it was the tower from Tandil that gained a first advantage. With a 5-4 break on the set, but as in his match against Jiri Vesely, Nadal immediately hit back and set 5-5, followed by a 1-4 and 3-6 tiebreak, Del Potro finally prevailed thanks to a strong serve in the important moments.
The level of the game got worse with the time, the game became more and more weary. Nadal deliberately took more risk because of the dangerous forehand of Del Potro, the latter was on his guard anyway, as Nadal is good for a winner on grass from almost every situation.
Del Potro seemed much more self-confident with the winning set, and was able to set pinpricks again and again. Nadal didn’t seem to have processed his four set points well in the set before and so round four went to the US Open Champion of 2009 after a late break with 6:4.
It went into section number four, where Nadal took the decisive step in the fifth game: to zero he took Del Potro off the serve there, missed two set points at 5:3 knockout Del Potro, but later secured the set on his own serve in the fourth attempt.
For the first time in the 17th duel, the two went into a fifth set, in which both players again increased noticeably. Due to the late time of day the conditions became more and more humid, so that in the fifth Game Nadal alone, for example, slipped away twice. The record French Open winner also made a short excursion into the spectator ranks.
The most spectacular point was scored by Del Potro, who finished a long rally with a classic Becker-Hecht.
Nevertheless, it was Nadal who broke first and took a 4-2 lead. Del Potro then fought his way back into the game one by one, but his opponent suddenly put more effort into the stop ball, increasingly pulling the Argentinean’s tooth.
After not quite five hours of play, the matador turned his first match point.