An emotional Nadal was celebrated by the audience on the Philippe Chatrier court after more than four hours of hard work. “It was a very important win for me. I had a very difficult opponent today, he’s currently one of the best in the world,” said the 35-year-old in an on-court interview with Eurosport expert Alex Corretja.
The new protégé of his uncle Toni, who watched the game not from the box but from a neutral place, demanded everything from Nadal and for the first time in the tournament took not just one, but two sets from the Spaniard.
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“We know each other very well and have a lot of history together. Starting tomorrow I will focus on the match and I will definitely fight to the end,” said Nadal with regard to the giant duel. “I’m ready,” said Djokovic: “I like how I feel and how I hit the ball.”
It is the 16th quarter-finals in Roland Garros for both Djokovic and Nadal. Last year Djokovic defeated his long-time opponent and Paris record winner Nadal (13 titles) in the semifinals on his way to the title and prevented his fifth triumph in a row on the Seine.
Liberation after five sets: Nadal ends the match against Auger-Aliassime spectacularly
Nadal shows weaknesses against Auger-Aliassime for the first time
At the beginning of the round of 16 on the Philippe Chatrier, record champion Nadal had massive problems against Auger-Aliassime.
The number nine in the world made the first break of the game to make it 3-1, shortly afterwards he added another to make it 5-1. Nadal was able to shorten it again, but the sentence was gone after 56 minutes.
The Canadian continued to counteract this and made life difficult for the clay court king. Until the eighth game, in which Nadal took the service from his challenger to make it 5: 3 and a little later equalized the set.
The momentum was now on Nadal’s side, who had complete control of the third set.
The 13-time Roland Garros champion served outstandingly and did not allow Auger-Aliassime a break chance. He himself took the service game from the 21-year-old twice and made it 6-2.
“Woahh!” Nadal almost brings ball back from the stands
Nadal cannot maintain the level in set four
All the more surprising that Nadal could not maintain his level. The 35-year-old subsequently found it more difficult to serve, was broken twice and the sentence was gone 3: 6.
Much to the delight of the spectators, there was a second helping, i.e. a fifth sentence. The match was now characterized by extreme intensity. In his first service game, Auger-Aliassime fended off a breakball from the superstar.
However, at the crucial stage, Nadal proved why he is the record Grand Slam champion. At a score of 4:3 he got the decisive break with sensational points. After 4:21 hours he used his first match point.
Nadal announces to Djokovic: “Will fight to the end”
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