Normal service was resumed here on Thursday as Rafael Nadal put his troubles of the previous day behind him to complete a 4-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-2 victory over Argentina’s Diego Schwartzman and book his place in the semi-finals of the French Open for the 11th time.
Nadal, who has gone on to win the title on every previous occasion when he has made the last four, had appeared to be in trouble after going a set and a break down on Wednesday evening, but the mini revival which he had made later in the day turned into a full-scale recovery on the resumption as the 32-year-old Spaniard won a match at Roland Garros for the 83rdtime in his career. Nadal, who has only lost twice on these courts, remains the red-hot favourite to extend his record as the man with the most singles titles at any Grand Slam event.
In Friday’s semi-finals Nadal will meet Juan Martin del Potro, who completed a hard-fought 7-6, 5-7, 6-3, 7-5 victory over Marin Cilic after resuming on Court Suzanne Lenglen.
The matches had been called off for the day because of rain at 7.30pm the previous evening. On the main show court Nadal was serving at 5-3 and 30-15 in the second set, which was a much better position than he had found himself in earlier in the day.
With Schwartzman going on all-out attack and Nadal struggling to hold serve, the Argentinian had taken the first set, ending Nadal’s run of 37 winning sets in a row here. He had needed only four more to match Bjorn Borg’s all-time record, which the Swede set between 1979 and 1981.
Schwartzman had just gone a break up at 3-2 in the second set when play was first halted, but on the resumption Nadal broke serve twice and won 16 of the 22 points played before further rain ended play for the day.
Nadal had been hitting the ball with improved confidence and aggression in those extra 17 minutes and quickly picked up where he had left off when they resumed today in bright sunshine. Nadal immediately won the two points he needed to level the match at one set apiece and wasted no time taking control of the third set.
Schwartzman, who failed to display the same aggression which had been such a big factor in the first set, was broken to 15 in the first game of the third set and dropped serve again in the fifth game as Nadal kept building the pressure.
By now the Spaniard was looking much more like his usual self. Although Schwartzman offered some resistance when Nadal served for the third set at 5-2 the world No 12 eventually capitulated after two successive missed backhands.
Nadal broke in the third and fifth games of the fourth set and had a match point when Schwartzman served at 1-5, only to hit a backhand beyond the baseline. To loud cheers from an appreciative crowd Schwartzman went on to hold serve, but the 25-year-old Argentinian was only delaying the inevitable.
After failing to take two more match points in the following game – a missed backhand followed by a missed forehand – and saving three break points, Nadal completed his victory with a typical forehand winner beyond the reach of Schwartzman’s backhand. The Spaniard’s jig of delight at the end told you that winning here means as much to him as it ever did.
“It was a very difficult match,” Nadal said afterwards. “Diego is a very good friend and a very good player.
“I played much better after we stopped for the rain last night. I played with much more aggression. I’m very happy to get through to the semi-finals. It’s unbelievable for me.”
