[ad_1]
The sun shone at Roland Garros, the sky was azure blue, the temperature reaching the eighties. What could Rafael Nadal have asked for more when he appeared in court for a third round appointment against David Goffin? Nobody in modern times has prospered as much as Nadal on a sunny day. He always believed that the heat made his already diabolical forehand hit even higher. Sweating is a condition that he readily accepts. He makes his opponents suffer excessively in the afternoons like this one. And that is why poor Goffin has always been severely tested against the incomparable Spaniard.
Goffin is trying to get back to top form after a disappointing and disrupted 2018 campaign. He finished seventh in 2017 after knocking Nadal and Roger Federer off the road for the ATP final in London. Never before has he finished a year in the Top 10. But he has fallen to 22nd place in the final ATP ranking of last year and his results this season are at best mediocre.
No wonder he started his fight today against the dreaded Nadal, filled with insecurities. The Spaniard is thrown at them and he at the first set. He conceded only two points in the first three games. He lost only one point in four service games. Nadal traveled this chapter with majestic majesty and won 6-1 in ruthless 28 minutes.
Goffin improved his game in the second set and forced Nadal to work much harder. Nadal paused in the opening match, held comfortably at 2-0, and then Goffin was apparently trapped at 0-30 in Game 3. A break there could have demoralized the Belgian. But Nadal did not exploit his opening in an unusual way. He made some unforced errors on the reverse. Goffin swung more freely. He held on gamely.
Nadal, however, did not dwell on the missed opportunity. Despite a double fault early in the next game and a deficit of 0 to 30, he held on a series of four consecutive points for 3-1 and has never regretted. Forward 3-2, 40-30, Nadal finished the match with an elegant winner in forehand. Nadal went to 5-3 with an easy hold at 15, including an ace on the penultimate point of this match. And then he decided that it was time to take another break. He did it in the ninth match, sealing the set 6-3. He protected his service with so much seduction that Goffin had no reason to be optimistic.
Goffin did well in the third set. He remained in Nadal's service until 3-3, holding in the sixth match with a winner beautifully executed. At that time, Goffin proudly forced Nadal to dig a little further, to play at a higher level and to feel a little more tension when he devoted himself to his business. Nadal had quite removed from the exchanges that feared almost all formidable left-handers, pushing the heavy head-to-head at the height of the two men of the opponent and inevitably making mistakes. But Goffin was finding his reach. In the eighth game, he took it to heart for 4-4 with another winner of the backhand, this one is a whistling crosscourt.
Nadal had been impenetrable to his service. Another first decisive blow in the first line of the first point of the ninth match gave him a 15-0 lead. But Goffin cajoled an error with a deep forehand on the line, then Nadal missed, tapping a forehand along the line. Now, Goffin lands on a forehand to allow a winner to score 15-40. Two points later, he went through dynamism, using a good comeback to set up another dazzling winner.
Unbelievably, Goffin served for the third set at 5-4 after defeating Nadal for the first time in the match with a series of spectacular shots. He made a double foul for 15-15, but played the rest of the game impeccably. The secret of the success of the round was simple: he made a breach on his forehand, scoring a winner on that side in the last match of the round at 100 M.P.H. on average in the range of M.P.H. And despite this bold strategy, he was barely missing. Taking this set after two defeats of a defeat in two sets was not a trivial matter.
Still, Nadal was not too worried. He was tight in the opening match, doubling the foul to 40-0, allowing Goffin to return tied. But a winner of the service on the T allowed Nadal to score for the fourth time, and he held out when Goffin missed a setback.
The shadows were crossing the field at this point in the match. Conditions had changed, but not Nadal's style of match. In the fourth game of the fourth set, he carefully eliminated Goffin's setback and continued to cajole his mistakes. Nadal broke the score at 30 for 3-1. The rest of the way, even though it was not at its zenith and somewhat worried, it was unshakeable. Nadal has masterfully made sure that Goffin continues to hit two players up and down the shoulders. He no longer allowed the Belgian to unleash these devastating forehands.
Nadal then passed the round of 16 eliminating Goffin, 6-1, 6-3, 4-6, 6-3. The match became a bit more complicated than would have been liked by Nadal's most ardent admirers, but the fact remains that he only lost his serve once and controlled very well. the tempo in three of the four sets. It was a job well done.
The Spaniard has raised his career record at Roland Garros to 89-2. According to us, the only player in the field who can and will prevent Nadal from taking a 12th crown this year is Novak Djokovic.
[ad_2]
Source link