Rafael Nadal fended off four match points in the round of 16 and prevented David Goffin from playing

Nadal was initially the better player but had his problems finding his way into the game. In the middle of the first set, under the eyes of football legend Raúl and rally icon Carlo Sainz, the favorite then increased the number of strokes and won the set with four games in a row.

In the second round, Nadal continued to improve and took a 4-2 lead. The encounter seemed to be heading for the home straight.

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First, Goffin fended off a match point on his own serve, shortly afterwards he did the same on the return game. Even more: The 31-year-old turned a 3:5 deficit into a 7:5.

In the third set, a duel developed at eye level, which was to come to a dramatic end.

Nadal and Goffin deliver match point thrillers

Nadal dropped two breakballs during the set and therefore had to go into the tie-break. Goffin won the first rally, but then the Mallorcan countered with four points in a row and was 4:1 in the lead.

The preliminary decision? no The Belgian responded with five points in a row, had two match balls at 6: 4 – and missed both. He missed another chance at 7:6. But Nadal also found it difficult to put the lid on. At 8:7 the local hero could not use his third match ball.

After three hours and ten minutes, the Caja Magica was upside down: Nadal had fended off another match point and converted his fourth to 11:9.

The 22nd win in 23 matches this season for Nadal, who also set a record with his 99th quarterfinal appearance at a Masters event.

Tsitsipas sovereign, Sinner without a chance against Auger-Aliassime

Stefanos Tsitsipas lived up to his role as favorite against Grigor Dimitrov. The number five in the world prevailed 6: 3, 6: 4 against Grigor Dimitrov. The next opponent is Andrey Rublev, who defeated Daniel Evans 7:6 (9:7), 7:5 after a hard fight.

Jannik Sinner suffered a clear defeat. Italy’s top man lost 6-1, 6-2 in just 80 minutes to Félix Auger-Aliassime. The Canadian performs in the quarterfinals Alexander Zverev, who beat Lorenzo Musetti 6: 3, 1: 0 benefited from the abandonment of his opponent due to injury.

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