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Sports, Tennis

Nadal-Zverev semi could come down to intangibles


By AFP
Published : 02 Jun 2022 07:38 PM | Updated : 02 Jun 2022 07:38 PM

Rafael Nadal will face another hurdle in the pursuit of his 14th French Open title with German talent Alexander Zverev his opponent in Friday's semi-final.

Despite world No.3 Zverev being ranked higher than fifth seed Nadal, the Spanish legend will be the overwhelming favorite as he aims to win his 22nd career Grand Slam - and go two ahead of Novak Djokovic.

Nadal went into Wednesday's French Open quarter-final against Novak Djokovic as a huge underdog, but emerged as seemingly destined to win the Roland-Garros title following a stunning performance to eliminate the world No.1.

His incredible defence frustrated Djokovic into making errors, with the Serbian forced to go for the lines with his winners to get past a resolute Nadal.

Nadal entered the French Open as third favorite to win behind Djokovic and Alcaraz even though he won the Australian Open in January.

The world no.5 had most of his 2021 wiped out by a foot injury following his French Open 2021 final loss to Djokovic.

Despite being world no.3, no one expected Zverev to defeat teen sensation Carlos Alcaraz in the quarter-final on Wednesday.

Alcaraz - seeded sixth - was arguably the most in-form player heading into French Open with victories in Barcelona and Madrid, even defeating Zverev in straight sets in the final of the Spanish capital's tournament.

But 25-year-old Zverev showed his experience in majors - against 19-year-old Alcaraz - snuffing out the Spaniard's challenge by claiming the first two sets before winning in four.

The German has had a tough path to the last four, coming back from two sets down against Argentine clay specialist Sebastian Baez, while needing tiebreaks to take down unseeded players Brandon Nakashima and Bernabe Zapata-Miralles.