World News – GB – Rafael Nadal sacks defending champion Tsitsipas and books Medvedev’s match

Rafael Nadal booked his place in the semi-finals of the ATP Finals Thursday night as defending champion Stefanos Tsitsipas was eliminated.

Nadal the world does not. 2 From Spain, rebound from Tuesday’s defeat by Dominic Thiem in their second round match with a 6-4 4-6 6-2 win after two hours and four minutes.. .

He made a small mistake in defeating Tim – one of the highest quality matches one can hope to watch – and indicated that he felt like he was participating in the winning cry of one of the few high-profile tournaments that I have hinted at so far..

Based on this evidence, it would be difficult to undo, even though he faces a tough test next in Daniel Medvedev – Russian Scientist No. 4 who have already beaten former champion Alexander Zverev and Novak Djokovic at O2.

It is the first time that Nadal, twice runner-up in London, has reached the semi-finals since 2015. It has remained without a hardline inner court title since 2005.

But after playing a reduced season amid the coronavirus pandemic, the Grand Slam champion looks 20 times fresher than ever at this time of year, and if he continues to work at that level it will be tough to stop him.

The French Open champion said after winning three sets: “I think I’ve played very well for a long time.

“That match at 5-4 per second affected me a little . . . I think I was winning my shots very comfortably up until that point. After that, everything changed a little. I think I am starting to serve a little worse.

« But overall it was a very positive game for me, being in the semi-finals here in the last tournament of the year is important.. Happy for that and I’m looking forward to the semi-final against Danielle.

Nadal had the first opportunity to break in the seventh game of the match but Tsitsipas, after saving the match point against Andrei Rublev in his previous match, pulled on his nerves.. .

Tsitsipas cracked in the next serve match. With Nadal pressing and setting his third break point in the competition, he made a double foul and Nadal made no mistake in serving the first goal, which he sealed with a header 41 minutes later..

A downfall against Nadal is usually not good news. He had won his previous 70 matches after securing the opening match, with his final defeat to Nick Kyrios at Acapulco in 2019..

In fact, Tsitsipas was besieged early in the second set but saved a break point in the opening match..

While Tsitsipas took care of his own services, he could not achieve any break-ins for Nadal. The Spaniard dropped just six points in his first nine service matches. On 9th that node, he made consecutive aces.

But, out of nowhere, he wobbled in the 10th minute and double missed a second break point to allow Tsitsipas to draw.

With both men suddenly swinging in the service, the decider started with three consecutive breaks but Nadal finally paused from 0 to 30 to take over.

After a Tsitsipas forehand went off target in the seventh game of Group C, last year’s champions were curtains as Nadal booked his place in the fourth round..

Theme follows London 2020 group winner – who lost in straight sets to Andrey Rublev in Dead Rubber in the afternoon – in the semifinals.

Tim will face either Novak Djokovic or Alexander Zverev in the second semi-final. Djokovic and Zverev will play the de facto quarter-final on Friday afternoon.

Britain’s Joe Salisbury earlier advanced to the semi-finals of the ATP Finals after he and his partner Rajiv Ram defeated German duo Andreas Mies and Kevin Kreewitz 7-6 (7-5) 6-7 (4-7) 10 -4.

The Anglo-American duo, who are playing in the event for the second time, are second in Mike Bryan’s group and can face any of the duos in Bob Bryan’s group, which will end on Friday.

Salisbury was placed in quarantine in the weeks leading up to the finals after his coach Rob Morgan tested positive for the Coronavirus – he and Ram were forced to withdraw from the Paris Masters – but that didn’t stop the pair from advancing in the semi-finals.. finals.

The 28-year-old Briton said after the match: “It was clearly not the perfect preparation, but, yeah, I think we still have, at least I know I still have high expectations for us as a team. , And I really wanted to do well here, get out of the group. We clearly want to continue. More than two games to win.

“But, yeah, I think we’re getting better over the course of the week, so yeah, I hope it continues.

Nitto ATP Finals, Rafael Nadal, Stefanos Tsitsipas, Dominic Tim, Andrey Rublev, Tennis, ATP Tour, Novak Djokovic, Daniel Medvedev