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Rafael Nadal Advances to 2020 French Open Final with Win vs. Diego Schwartzman
October 9, 2020
Rafael Nadal is one win away from an unprecedented 13th French Open title after a straight-sets victory, 6-3, 6-3, 7-6 (0), over Diego Schwartzman on Friday in the 2020 men's semifinals at Stade Roland-Garros in Paris.
Nadal, who will face either Novak Djokovic or Stefanos Tsitsipas in the final Sunday, is seeking his fourth straight championship at Roland-Garros. His career record in the event is now 99-2.
The tournament marked Schwartzman's first major semifinal in his 25th Grand Slam appearance. His career mark against Nadal drops to 1-10.
Nadal cruised through the first two sets, but the 28-year-old Argentine created some resistance in the third. After they traded four straight breaks of serve in the middle of the set, the key game came with the 34-year-old Spanish superstar serving at 5-5.
Schwartzman created three break points that would have given him a chance to serve for the set. Nadal fought them all off, held serve and ultimately dominated the tiebreak (7-0) to advance.
"I played a couple of bad points in the third and Diego is very tough," Nadal said. "Very difficult until the end. But today it was a very positive match for me."
It wasn't the most efficient performance for the 19-time Grand Slam singles champion, who only narrowly tallied more winners (38) than unforced errors (34).
Nadal did play the clutch points far better than Schwartzman, though. The No. 2 seed converted six of his nine break chances compared to just three of 12 for his 12th-seeded opponent. He also won 17 of the 24 points (71 percent) when he came to net.
ATP Media Info @ATPMediaInfoBy the Numbers: @RafaelNadal at #RolandGarros 1,919-962 in Games (.666) 296-27 in Sets (.916) 99-2 in Matches (.980) 39-Match Win Streak (2010-15) 38-Set Win Streak (2016-18) 31-0 to Begin Career 26-1 vs Top 10 19 Sets Won 6-0 19-5 TBs 13-0 SFs 12-0 Fs 6-1 vs No 1 2-0 in 5th Sets
He's advanced to the final without dropping a set throughout the tournament, and only twice was a set even pushed to a tiebreak—including the third against Schwartzman on Friday.
Looking back, one of Nadal's two losses at Roland-Garros came against Djokovic in the 2015 quarterfinals. The other was a fourth-round loss to Robin Soderling in 2009.
He'll likely be the favorite in the final regardless of who wins the second semifinal, but Djokovic represents the tougher potential matchup.