That is all from me tonight. Thank you for following along and we will be back tomorrow afternoon as Novak Djokovic and Alexander Zverev compete at 2pm for the final spot in the semi-final.
Updated
Rafael Nadal’s results this year:
ATP Cup F
Australian Open QF
Acapulco W
Rome QF
Roland Garros W
Paris Masters SF
London SF+
This is how things currently look in London:
Daniil Medvedev vs Rafael Nadal
Dominic Thiem vs Novak Djokovic or Alexander Zverev.
Sixth sense 🙌
— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) November 19, 2020
The moment @RafaelNadal reached the last four of the #NittoATPFinals for the sixth time! pic.twitter.com/6WNsk60bT5
02: RF
— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) November 19, 2020
03: RF
04: RF
05: RF
06: RF RN
07: RF, RN
08: ND
09: RF
10: RF, RN, ND
11: RF
12: RF, ND
13: RF, RN, ND
14: RF, ND
15: RF, RN, ND
16: ND
17: RF
18: RF, ND
19: RF
20: RN
19 straight years of at least Nadal, Djokovic or Federer in the #NittoATPFinals last four! pic.twitter.com/EBrkNZIhvV
Rafael Nadal:
“I think I played quite well for such a long time. That game at 5-4 in the second affected me a little bit… I think I was winning my serves quite comfortably until that moment. After that, everything changed a little bit. I think I started to serve a little bit worse. But in general terms have been a very positive match for me, to be in the semi-finals here at the last tournament of the year is an important thing. Happy for that and I am looking forward to that semi-finals against Daniil.”
Rafael Nadal reaches his 6th ATP Finals SF.
— enrico maria riva (@enricomariariva) November 19, 2020
15 years after the first one in 2006.
He will play Daniil Medvedev who was 10 years old at the time.
Rafael Nadal beats Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-4 4-6 6-2 to reach semi-final
Kudos to Tsitsipas for arresting Nadal’s momentum and forcing a third set, but Nadal is serving too well and maintaining such a consistent level.
With the exception of the brief lull in the final game of set two and the beginning of set three, another strong performance from the 20 time slam champion. His hopes of filling the final major gap in his resume at the ATP Finals are still a possibility this week.
Updated
Rafael Nadal 6-4 4-6 *5-2 Stefanos Tsitsipas.
Tsitsipas drops his third service game of the set with a whimper. He hit three errors in total, spraying a forehand well wide on break point. Nadal will serve for the match and a place in the semi-final.
Rafael Nadal 6-4 4-6 4-2* Stefanos Tsitsipas.
Nadal keeps the break intact with a quick hold to love, sealed with two unreturned serves and a couple of overhit errors from an aggressive Tsitsipas. It looks like Nadal has rediscovered his rhythm on serve and it is difficult to see a way back for Tsitsipas if that is the case.
Rafael Nadal 6-4 4-6 *3-2 Stefanos Tsitsipas.
After three breaks in a row, two holds follow. A good service game from Tsitsipas, who decided to serve and volley 4 times in a row and was rewarded for it with a quick hold to 15. A good message from Tsitsipas there - he will continue to attack.
Rafael Nadal 6-4 4-6 3-1* Stefanos Tsitsipas.
It looked like Nadal was en route to losing his serve for a third time in a row, but from 0-30 the Spaniard shook himself out of his stupor and held. Nadal found a quick serve-forehand 1-2 punch at 0-30, then Tsitsipas shanked a backhand under pressure. At 30-30, Nadal produced two quick unreturned serves to seal the game.
Rafael Nadal 6-4 4-6 *2-1 Stefanos Tsitsipas.
Out of nowhere, this match has turned into a break festival. This time, Nadal secured the third break in a row to love. There was little resistance from Tsitsipas, who ended the game by dumping a bounce smash into the bottom of the net at 0-30, then spraying a backhand wide. Who will hold first?
Rafael Nadal 6-4 4-6 1-1* Stefanos Tsitsipas.
A very good effort from Tsitsipas to rediscover his focus and immediately break back. At 30-15, Tsitsipas stepped in and crushed a cross-court backhand after a high octane point, forcing an error from Nadal. Then he swept into the net behind a lovely low slice, to which Nadal responded with a lob attempt that flew long. On break point, Nadal dumped a backhand into the net.
After looking untouchable on serve for nearly two sets, Nadal drops his serve twice in a row. Momentum is a funny thing.
Updated
Rafael Nadal 6-4 4-6 *1-0 Stefanos Tsitsipas.
Well, that is not ideal for Tsitsipas. After his tremendous work at the end of the second set, he opened with a double fault. Nadal nailed a brilliant forehand passing shot to reach 0-30, then Tsitsipas threw in two consecutive forehand errors to hand over the game. Such a dramatic intensity drop just is simply not good enough against Rafael Nadal.
Stefanos Tsitsipas levels Rafael Nadal at 4-6 6-4
A complete smash and grab! After winning only one point of Nadal’s serve throughout set two, Tsitsipas finally managed to dig into a return game.
Tsitsipas landed a great backhand passing shot on the first point and then he rolled with it. After a couple of poor decisions from Nadal at the net to reach double set point, Nadal double faulted on the second set point at 30-40. We’re going to three sets.
Updated
Rafael Nadal 6-4 *4-5 Stefanos Tsitsipas.
Tsitsipas moves through a quick love hold of his own. After three unreturned serves from the Greek to start the game, Nadal dropped a forehand into the net. Considering how little pressure Nadal has been under on his serve in this set, let’s see if the scoreline changes anything at all. He will serve to stay in the second set.
Rafael Nadal 6-4 4-4* Stefanos Tsitsipas.
Nadal has lost one (1) point on serve in this set so far. As if to rub salt in Tsitsipas’s many wounds, he closed this one off with consecutive second serve aces.
Rafael Nadal 6-4 *3-4 Stefanos Tsitsipas
Another tough, resilient hold from Tsitsipas. He was once again at 30-30, again under pressure in a long rally. This time, he found a very good angled cross-court backhand to transition from defence to attack and force a Nadal error. At 40-30, Nadal missed a second serve return.
Points won over 9 shots:
Rafael Nadal: 8
Stefanos Tsitsipas: 1
Rafael Nadal 6-4 3-3* Stefanos Tsitsipas.
Nadal breezes through another quick hold, this time to 15. He continues to completely pummel the Tsitsipas backhand which is badly struggling. At 15-0, Tsitsipas bailed out of a high-octane exchange from the advantage court with a drop shot, which Nadal swept up. At 30-0, a heavy Nadal forehand eventually set up a short ball, which Nadal put away with a brutal forehand. On the second game point, Nadal found a big unreturned serve to hold.
Rafael Nadal unforced errors: 4
Rafael Nadal 6-4 *2-3 Stefanos Tsitsipas.
Good work from Tsitsipas to keep himself ahead under some pressure. At 30-30, he landed an unreturned serve followed by a quick serve-forehand 1-2 punch.
Rafael Nadal’s first serve points won: 22/24 (92%)
Rafael Nadal 6-4 2-2* Stefanos Tsitsipas.
Nadal pieces together another effortless love hold, sealed with a big serve-forehand 1-2 punch at 30-0, followed by the most delicate backhand drop volley winner on the first game point. Lovely.
Rafael Nadal 6-4 *1-2 Stefanos Tsitsipas.
A really good love hold from Tsitsipas to keep himself ahead in set two. From 15-0, produced three brilliant point-ending forehands in succession to hold. He needs to impose his forehand
Rafael Nadal 6-4 1-1* Stefanos Tsitsipas.
Another love hold from Nadal means that the has only lost 5 points on serve in 6 service games. Remember, Tsitsipas failed to generate a break point after 2 hours 25 minutes in their match here last year and he has had similar problems with Nadal’s serve in other encounters. Tsitsipas is not even close to putting pressure Nadal’s serve and that must change.
Rafael Nadal 6-4 *0-1 Stefanos Tsitsipas.
A really good hold from Tsitsipas to open the second set. His backhand was under immense pressure from Nadal throughout, but down break point at 40-Ad he stepped into the court and blazed a brilliant angled cross-court backhand winner. After reaching game point, this time he pulled off a jumping backhand down-the-line winner. In the midst of that recovery was a loud, pointed cry of ‘c’mon’. He is fighting.
Updated
Rafael Nadal’s serving stats today:
Aces: 4
First serve %: 76%
First serve points won: 89%
Break points faced: 0
Rafael Nadal takes the first set 6-4 against Stefanos Tsitsipas
Another set of the highest quality from Nadal. He worked Tsitsipas’s backhand over, annoyed the Greek with his wicked backhand slice and he served extremely well throughout. From 30-30, one of Tsitsipas’s best efforts on his serve, he landed consecutive unreturned serves to move on. Nadal is yet to face a break point.
Two hands on the volley?! 👀@RafaelNadal #NittoATPFinals pic.twitter.com/7ogvZ7TeK5
— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) November 19, 2020
Rafael Nadal *5-4 Stefanos Tsitsipas.
The pressure was building and Tsitsipas finally crumbled underneath it. From 30-30, a long, physical exchange ended with Nadal’s superior slice drawing a backhand error from Tsitsipas. On break point, Tsitsipas threw in his second double fault of the match. Nadal will serve for the set.
Rafael Nadal 4-4* Stefanos Tsitsipas.
After failing to convert two break points in the previous game, Nadal immediately shrugged off the disappointment and landed 3 unreturned serves en route to a quick hold to 15. A perfect response.
Rafael Nadal *3-4 Stefanos Tsitsipas.
After a couple of errors and a wicked Nadal forehand at 15-30, Nadal found himself up 15-40 with the first break points of the match.
Nadal missed a second serve return on the first break point, but from 30-40 Tsitsipas took control. At 30-40 he moved into the net after a strong forehand, dispatching an overhead winner. From deuce, Nadal twice failed to land a passing shot against Tsitsipas after forceful forehand approach shots from the Greek. That is exactly how Tsitsipas needs to play this match. A positive sign.
Rafael Nadal 3-3* Stefanos Tsitsipas.
Nadal matches Tsitsipas once again, easing through an easy hold to 15. He landed a gorgeous angled drop volley at 30-15 before crunching an ace to hold. 6 games in 20 minutes. This is moving very quickly.
Rafael Nadal *2-3 Stefanos Tsitsipas.
Tsitsipas continues to serve extremely well. From 15-15, he quickly moved to 40-15 with an ace followed by an unreturned serve. On the second game point, Nadal just sent a backhand long. Another hold on the board for the Greek.
Rafael Nadal 2-2* Stefanos Tsitsipas.
Nadal moves through a quick hold to 15. After the Spaniard opened with two supreme backhand down-the-line winners, Tsitsipas attempted his own at 40-15, which flew wide. Both men are serving extremely well early on and facing very little pressure.
Updated
Rafael Nadal *1-2 Stefanos Tsitsipas.
Tsitsipas responds with a quick love hold of his own, which included his first sneak to the net at 15-0, sealed with a lovely backhand volley winner. After an ace from Tsitsipas at 30-0, Nadal uncharacteristically netted an overhead on game point.
Rafael Nadal 1-1* Stefanos Tsitsipas.
Nadal eases through a quick hold to love with some great serving. 4 first serves in, 4 first serves won.
Rafael Nadal *0-1 Stefanos Tsitsipas.
A really nice start from Tsitsipas. From 0-15 down, he crunched two consecutive forehand winners then landed a quick serve-forehand 1-2 punch. On game point he produced a delicate drop shot winner. A very good hold to 15.
Here we go. Stefanos Tsitsipas has kicked things off. The winner moves into the semi-final, the loser will be off on holiday somewhere.
A shootout for the semi-finals! ⚔️
— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) November 19, 2020
Watch Nadal vs Tsitsipas LIVE 👉 https://t.co/hOHmv2wMlX pic.twitter.com/yJemv9DLrw
The players have arrived on-court. Stefanos Tsitsipas will serve first.
Clutch in the decider ✌️@RajeevRam and @joesalisbury92 clinch a #NittoATPFinals semi-final spot after a 7-6 6-7 10-4 win over Krawietz/Mies! pic.twitter.com/HCrR4cylQv
— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) November 19, 2020
Joe Salisbury and Rajeev Ram beat Andreas Mies and Kevin Krawietz 7-6(5) 6-7(4) 10-4 to reach their first ATP Finals semi-final.
Updated
Congratulations to the Guardian’s own Kevin Mitchell.
Here’s the 1st #ATP award winner for 2020 @kevinmitchell50 with the Ron Bookman Media Excellence award & the rest of the British press...congrats Kevin!!! pic.twitter.com/WWPTUYpB3p
— Nicola Arzani (@Nicarzani) November 19, 2020
Meanwhile, Anglo-American duo Joe Salisbury and Rajeev Ram have been pushed to a third set match tiebreak against Kevin Krawietz and Andreas Mies. The winning team will reach the semi-final for the first time.
As we wait, here are some highlights from last year’s encounter.
"We don't have your abs, we don't have your glutes, but we have wisdom."
— ATP Tour (@atptour) November 19, 2020
A coaching gem from Apostolos Tsitsipas 😂#NittoATPFinals pic.twitter.com/TjOCFcHUB2
Head to head:
Rafael Nadal leads the head to head 5-1 against Stefanos Tsitsipas.
Their last meeting? Nadal beat Tsitsipas 6-7(4) 6-4 7-5 here last year in a long, fun and gruelling match in 2 hours 52 minutes. Nadal faced zero break points in the entire match.
Updated
Stefanos Tsitsipas on tonight’s match.
Q. I want to ask you what are your memories from last year game against Rafa, and what key points do you have to improve to have a chance to beat him this time?
STEFANOS TSITSIPAS: I was very concentrated on our match last year and was playing each point individually. I’m going to try and play an aggressive -- in aggressive tennis, you can play defensive with Rafa. Try to play the rallies, you know. Play rallies, apply pressure, serve well.
It is all part of my -- it’s part of the game that I want to play against Rafa. I think everyone has to play this way.
I just have to be solid. Have to be more solid than him to win. I know that. I have to start strong and finish even stronger.
Rafa after his loss to Dominic Thiem on Tuesday:
Q. Although you lost the match, you have shown a pretty nice round game, especially at the net. Do you think this is the style that you need to play to finally wrap an ATP Finals?
RAFAEL NADAL: I don’t know. I think even if I never won here, I really, I don’t want to pretend to be arrogant at all, no? Because I am not. But I really don’t need to show even to myself or to no one that if I am playing my best tennis I think I can win in every surface and against any player, no?
Is true, but I never won in the World Tour Finals. That’s the real thing at the same time. So no problem about that. I know I have to play my best if I want to have chances.
Today have been a match that I played at very high level, and my goal is just to keep going, no? I have a match against Tsitsipas in two days. Gonna be another tough one. But I hope to be ready, no? I think playing like this I am confident that I can have my chances in the tournament.
Preamble
Hello! Welcome to our coverage of the penultimate day of round robin action at the ATP Finals. These final matches of the round robin stages can be so complicated with the semi-finalists often determined by set and game percentages. Thankfully, things are very simple this year and the winner of tonight’s match between Rafael Nadal and Stefanos Tsitsipas will qualify for the semi-final in second place behind Dominic Thiem. Daniil Medvedev awaits.
Nadal arrives in this final at an interesting moment. This is only his second tournament on hard courts since February. Despite the fact that he fell in two tiebreak sets against Thiem, he did so while playing some incredible tennis himself aside from on the most important moments deep in the two tiebreaks. After the match, he was satisfied despite the loss. The question is whether he can use it as a stepping stone to advance further in the tournament.
Defending champion Tsitsipas has been struggling with a leg injury in recent weeks and although he took a set from Thiem, he was understandably more frustrated by his performance than Nadal. He rode his luck and demonstrated his mental fortitude in the following match as he recovered from match point down against Andrey Rublev to keep himself alive in the event. Now let’s see what he can do against the very best.
