Rafael Nadal survives Italian Open scare with thrilling Denis Shapovalov comeback
Nadal #Nadal
Rafael Nadal avoided a scare as he won a final-set tiebreaker to beat Denis Shapovalov 3-6 6-4 7-6 in the last-16 of the Italian Open.
The Spaniard was forced to come back from a set down against the impressive Canadian.
Nadal has had a poor season on clay so far this year. He has win just one trophy in his last three tournaments.
The 34-year-old lost to Andrey Rublev in the Monte Carlo Masters quarter-final.
He was then beaten by Alexander Zverev in the Madrid Open quarters. He was so close to losing to Shapovalov in Rome.
However, Nadal did win on home soil when he defeated Stefanos Tsitsipas in the final of the Barcelona Open last month. That was his only recent win on the surface, but he was expected to win all four tournaments.
Shapovalov twice broke Nadal in an entertaining first set, which the 22-year-old won 6-3. He was close to leading 4-0 in the second set, only to be on the receiving end of a dominant comeback.
Nadal forced a third set by winning six of the next seven games. A tense and tight deciding set followed where both players failed to break their opponent.
But the world no 3 Nadal won the tiebreaker 7-2.
Nadal earned a place in the final 16 in Rome by beating Italian Jannik Sinner 7-5 6-4 on Wednesday.
He now gets to make amends for last week’s Madrid Open defeat against Zverev. Nadal can continue his resurgence against the German in the quarter-final.
Nadal is competing for his 10th Italian Open. His last came in 2019 when he successfully defended his title by beating Novak Djokovic 6-0 4-6 6-1.
Former British No 1 and Amazon Prime pundit Greg Rusedski said: “[It was] an incredible performance. First set he was awful.
“Shapovalov was about as good as it gets. All of a sudden Shapo drops fractionally, Rafa takes it in the second set.
“Third set, battling back having saved two match points, I don’t think there’s another player on the planet that would have found a way to win that match. It’s incredible.
“Shapo threw the kitchen sink at him and he still lost. That’s about as well I’ve ever seen him play on a clay court and he didn’t do too much wrong there.”
Daniela Hantuchava, a former world no 5, said: “[Nadal is] not only the greatest competitor in tennis but in all the sports.
“When Rafa was entering the court three-and-a-half hours ago, it seems the organisers knew what song to put on because it was from the Gladiator movie, the soundtrack. That’s exactly what this match looked like.
“No-one else would have been able to turn it around and he showed why he’s the king of clay.”
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