Spanish tennis maestro Rafael Nadal, who recently clinched his ninth Monte Carlo Masters, will aim to equal Guillermo Vilas’s record of 49 clay-court titles in this week’s Barcelona Open.
Advertisement
At least Monfils will be fresh, having eased past Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 6-1, 6-3 in an all-French semifinal, breaking Tsonga’s serve six times in less than half the time Nadal spent turning the table on Murray. It was the Spaniard’s 68th career title in 100 career finals, and 48th on clay, just one behind record holder Guillermo Vilas’s mark. His previous final was in January – routed by Djokovic in Doha.
The Frenchman’s decision to chase down everything eventually came back to hurt him as his legs deserted him in the final stanza and Nadal stormed to a 6-0 triumph.
“It’s obvious this has been a very important week for me”, Nadal said. “I hope that victory helps me a lot for the next couple of tournaments, but winning here for the ninth time is unbelievable”.
Nadal missed a chance to serve out the first set at 5-3 up but double-faulted as Monfils pulled back before holding for 5-5 in the next game – which featured one staggering 33-shot rally. The run of points continued, with 12 from 15 in a row, first going up 5-1, then Murray and Soares closing to 4-5, and again to 6-7.
The Spaniard has beaten Frenchman Gael Monfils 7-5, 5-7, 6-love. and feels he’s getting back to his best. Next round, he took down the world No 2. Now 29 years old, the oft-injured Monfils seems to have chose to apply a more disciplined approach on court (although he is allegedly the same relaxed Gael off it) and it’s seen him reach the third Masters final of his career after finishing runner-up at the Paris Masters in Bercy in 2009, losing to Djokovic, and 2010, losing to Robin Soderling.
So the wins over these two and, of course, the victory over Thiem, should exorcise the ghosts of self-doubts that have haunted Nadal through his long slump.
“I’m very happy today”. I just want to continue the work I’m doing, which is good work.
“I’ve been a couple of time without winning big, big tournaments, I’m enjoying this moment”. Here’s a never-say-die try-hard guy who has hit tough times the last couple of seasons.
The match was also riddled with 34 break points, with Nadal converting on eight of 21 while Mr Monfils managed five of 13.
Advertisement
But with his confidence on the mend and composure on the return, his game will surely sort itself out.
