It was a much-anticipated fourth round match on Wednesday between a champion and a precocious talent from the upcoming generation. And it thoroughly lived up to the expectations in terms of shotmaking and drama as three-time BNP Paribas Open winner Rafael Nadal came back from the brink to outlast 18-year-old Alexander Zverev 6-7(8), 6-0, 7-5 after saving a match point.
The young German has been hailed by many including Nadal as a ‘future No. 1.’ And there was no doubt of it early on as he was the one to break serve first in the opening set. Even when the 14-time Grand Slam champion broke back, Zverev still continued to unleash his barrage of groundstrokes and grabbed the first set in a tie-break after the Spaniard overcooked a forehand on set point.
The undaunted Rafa, however, came roaring back in the second set and did not present his rival with any opportunity at all. In just 26 minutes, the fourth seed grabbed the set, making in-roads into Zverev’s serve thrice.
The scene completely changed in the third set as once again Zverev was the aggressor. After three straight breaks, it looked to be one-way traffic as the World No. 58 did not appear to slow down.
Serving at 5-4, the most vital point of the match which could have given the biggest win of his career turned out to be his nightmare as he dumped an easy volley into the net on match point. Rafa did not need a second chance after that. As Zverev looked distraught after that costly miss, the Spaniard only grew in confidence and pocketed the next three games for the win.
“I missed probably the easiest shot I had the whole match,” rued the German in his post-match press conference.
Nadal next meets fifth seed Kei Nishikori in the quarter-finals. It was a similar scenario for the Japanese, who like Rafa, had to save a match point to dwarf the 6’10’’ John Isner, 1-6, 7-6 (2), 7-6 (5).
Smooth sailing for Djokovic
The defending champion Novak Djokovic had one of the more comfortable victories on Wednesday as he took 1 hour 6 minutes to notch up a 6-3, 6-3 win over 18th seed Feliciano Lopez. The World No. 1 has the seventh seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga up next in the last-eight stage.
The Frenchman beat the in-form Dominic Thiem 6-3, 6-2. The 11th seeded Austrian came into this tournament on the back of two title wins in the Latin American swing.
In the other Round of 16 matches of the day, Milos Raonic defeated Tomas Berdych 6-4, 7-6(7) to set up a quarter-final clash with Gael Monfils, who stopped the giant-killing run of Federico Delbonis, 6-3, 6-4.
Wawrinka out
Earlier in the day, the third-seeded Stan Wawrinka fought back from 3-6, 0-4 down only to eventually lose 3-6, 7-5, 6(5)-7 to the 15th seeded David Goffin. The Swiss seemed to be in control after he broke back in the deciding set of this wildly fluctuating encounter that saw as many as 13 breaks of serve.
But in the third set tie-break, he netted a smash at 5-5 which proved to be disastrous and awarded Goffin with a match point which he duly converted.
He will next square off against the former US Open champion Marin Cilic, who edged past the eighth-seeded Richard Gasquet 7-5, 5-7, 6-2.
Serena to meet Radwanska in semi-finals
In the ladies quarter-finals, top seed Serena Williams came back from an early break down to slam shut the chances of the defending champion Simona Halep, 6-4, 6-3. The American powered 28 winners past the Romanian against 24 unforced errors.
Her opponent in the last-four stage will be the third seed Agnieszka Radwanska who prevailed over the eighth-seeded Petra Kvitova, 6-2, 7-6(3). The win brought back the Pole to the World No. 2 ranking.
Radwanska has been in impeccable form since the US Open last year and has won four titles that include the prestigious WTA Finals. But Serena is a different challenge altogether as Radwanska has never managed to beat her in any Tour-level match in 9 meetings.
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