The Mallorcan celebrates its 22 th birthday with a victory without palliatives (6-1, 6-1 and 6-1). Only Bjorn had snapped fewer games in Paris in the first five matches
"Struggles 11 days for getting into the quarter-finals, reaching Rafah and pulls you throw that ball six meters." This is the diagnosis of Nicolas Almagro, latest victim of the king of clay, in less than two hours. Rafa Nadal will play the penultimate match of Roland Garros after another exhibition (6-1, 6-1 and 6-1) and now awaits Novak Djokovic, who has given almost twice as many games in the five previous duels.
Same as before Fernando Verdasco or Jarkko Nieminen, the triple champion in Paris, where he sum 26 consecutive wins, barely had to resort to the best of his repertoire to get an easy victory. Almagro, who played for the first time the quarterfinals of a large, was never an option.
"He spent by the central track a player named Nadal much higher than me. I do not expect this result, "admitted the powerless murciano, aged 22, a friend of Rafa, who predicts that" may defend his title here many times you want. "
Everything seems in this direction, because the world's number two drag a minimum wear in the previous battles, especially compared with its two main threats. In his career immaculate just 25 games and has given no set. For his part, Roger Federer delivered 46 games and a hose and Novak before Montañés Djokovic 59 games and a partial face Gremelmayr in the first round.
To record snatched Another Borg The tiny concessions Nadal also pose a record at Roland Garros, another in the legend of Manacorense. So far in the first five games, only Bjorn Borg had snapped fewer games (26 in 1978 and 1981). That record, with just their importance, now belongs to Nadal.
Faced Almagro was only required in the second sleeve, which overcame five breaking balls. The Murcia, perhaps by the weight of the central track, never found the freshness of his tennis, joined only get three direct (20 on average accumulated so far) and averaged a dismal 37% of first services.
The next step is assumed that more complicated for tricampeón. He hoped Novak Djokovic, candidate for second place in the ATP and executioner of Latvian Ernests Gulbis (7-5, 7-6 and 7-5), one of the sensations of the tournament. There was a easy afternoon for 'Nolan' without undue continuity in his tennis.
It was a duel between two old friends, recalling his days at school Niki Pilica in Munich, where both dreamed of playing a game like this. At the Latvian, aged 19, he weighed inexperience in this type of commitments. Its passage through Paris is screened in the ranking, but still needs something more to overthrow the Serbian.