Rafael Nadal continues to expand his streak. Facing the always dangerous Reilly Opelka, the Spaniard won in 2:11 thanks to two well-controlled decisive games (7-6, 7-6) and has an 18th consecutive victory since the start of the season. The fourth player in the world delivered a good overall performance despite a slump in the middle of the second set. Here he is gaining momentum before facing Nick Kyrgios in the quarter-finals on Thursday.
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Where will Nadal stop in 2022? Opposed to Opelka who had disgusted Denis Shapovalov in the previous round with services that went back to 2m30 after rebound, the Spaniard never got frustrated. And has, little by little, taken the measure of the opposing service. Even with an average of 210 km/h and peaks at 236 km/h, the American giant very often saw the ball return to the court. Nadal is one of the best returners on the circuit, he has proven it again.
By constantly having Opelka play behind his face-off, he ended up cracking him. Especially during the first tie-break where, 4-3 to his disadvantage, the 17th player in the world sent two consecutive forehands into the net. A last backhand fault and Nadal took the lead after 54 minutes of play (7-6). A logical end to this first act where the Spaniard was the only one to get a break point perfectly saved by Opelka at 3-3.
Nadal became Nadal again
Meanwhile, Rafael Nadal chained shutouts (seven in the whole match) and only let three points slip on his serve in the first set. He still got a break point at 2/1 in the next set, still dismissed by the American with a winning uncrossed forehand. Even heckled, the latter knew how to be intractable as soon as it was necessary to save a commitment that he had never lost since the start of the tournament. And Nadal, who seemed unsinkable, cracked.
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Two double faults then a forehand in the bottom of the net offered an unsuspected break to Opelka. From the top of his 2m11, he dismissed a new break point with an ace sliced at the unreal T. Still in trouble on the next game and much less precise in the exchange, Nadal offered three new break points to his opponent. All saved. And the match is reversed again. Nadal became Nadal again, slipped a killer backhand slice for a player as tall as Opelka before taking advantage of an increasingly crumbly opposing forehand to break the American on serve.
Returning from 2-4 to 4-4, he accelerated his service game to glean a third consecutive game and regain control. The servers ruled until 6-6 to play a new tie-break. Nadal took the lead from the third point by making the mini-break and never let go of his prey again as Opelka constantly struggled to return the Spaniard’s serve. A final forehand half-volley of great beauty and Rafael Nadal qualified for his 98th quarter-final in the Masters 1000. He will find a fresh Nick Kyrgios there after Jannik Sinner forfeited for their clash of the day.
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