Australian Open 2019, Quarter Final: Rafael Nadal vs Frances Tiafoe

The Australian Open quarter final match between a seventeen-time Grand Slam champion ranked number two in the world at the moment, and a twenty-one-year-old rookie for whom reaching the quarter final is his biggest achievement so far, points at a match-up between two unequal opponents.

That eventually may be the case. But in this inter-generational battle, the younger player comes with the kind of maturity that defies his young age, and a kind of never-say-die attitude that is reminiscent of the veteran who he is going to face in the biggest match of his budding career.

Frances Tiafoe may well be the David to Rafael Nadal’s Goliath, but he certainly has a realistic shot at creating another huge upset after his fellow next-gen star Stefanos Tsitsipas did the same against the two-time defending champion Roger Federer.

Tiafoe has already caused two upsets of sorts against higher ranked opponents – number five seed Kevin Anderson and the twentieth seed Grigor Dimitrov in the previous rounds. That must have given him a lot of confidence. His win against Anderson especially would help him in good stead because this was a match where he was clearly the second best for a set and a half, before raising his game a notch.

So, if Nadal gets off to a fast start as he most often does, Tiafoe can draw on from his experiences in the Anderson match as well as the match against Andreas Seppi in which he came from two sets to one down to win their third round match.

However, Nadal seems to be on a mission to win his second Australian Open, and thus become the first man in the open era to win every grand slam singles title, at least twice. That, and the fact that a win here would take his Grand Slam count to just two shy of Roger’s, is motivation enough for Nadal. Moreover, with Federer already ousted, he does not have to worry about his nemesis of recent times, whom he was slated to meet at the semifinal stage.

He is coming off an extremely impressive win over a resurgent Tomas Berdych. The way he steamrolled past Berdych in the first two sets was an ominous warning for all his future opponents, including the immediate one – Frances Tiafoe.

However, despite the lop-sided score line, there were chances created by Berdych in that match too. There was a break point opportunity in the first game itself which the Czech could not convert. And even in the third set tie-break, Berdych was up a mini-break which he failed to take advantage of.

If Tiafoe remains focused and takes whatever chances come his way, especially at crucial junctures, there is no reason why he cannot make this match a competitive one, and even do the unthinkable.

Prediction: Rafael Nadal to win in 4 sets