Nadal eases past Almagro to seal spot in the semis (ROLAND GARROS)

Wednesday, June 6, 2012
By Kate Battersby

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They may be the best of friends off the court, but let's face it, Nicolas Almagro must be sick of the sight of Rafael Nadal. This is the third time he has made the quarter-finals at Roland Garros, the third time he has faced his illustrious compatriot, and the third time he has lost in straight sets. Same old, same old. The fight was close with little ground given in the first set, but thereafter Nadal was rarely troubled, running out a 7-6(4), 6-2, 6-3 winner in 2 hrs 46mins for his eighth career defeat of Almagro without reply.

Almagro had much cause for optimism prior to this one, above and beyond the expression third time lucky. Almagro had not dropped a set all tournament long, and had not dropped one en-route to his ATP tour win in Nice last month. He had risen to no.12 in the world and was playing the best tennis of his life, most recently in his comfortable win over Janko Tipsarevic. That he was on a roll was very much evident in the first set. For the first 12 games he went toe-to-toe with his fellow Spaniard, aided by the fact that Nadal’s backhand seemed not quite up to speed. Almagro’s own backhand, meanwhile – a beautiful one-handed flourish in this age of two-fisted uniformity – was doing some damage.

Yet when it came to the breaker, the qualities which had stood him in good stead up to that point seemed to desert him, and he could make no headway. An exchange of 34 strokes saw Nadal blast a forehand down the line for a clean winner. Briefly Almagro rallied, coming back from 1-5 to 4-5 with the aid of that backhand. But Nadal still forced set point, and Almagro could not find an answer to his service delivery. The set was done.

Early in the second Nadal was at full throttle to force two break points. He went crosscourt with his backhand to push his opponent out wide, and Almagro could only put it in the net to give the break for 1-3. Almagro came back with everything he had, and at 2-4 he punished Nadal once again with his crosscourt backhand for his one break point of the set. In the long fighting rally which ensued, Almagro chased for every get, making Nadal play one more stroke – but when it mattered, Nadal put the ball away and then held for 5-2. On set point the Almagro backhand which had worked so beautifully sent the ball long.

As rain began to fall on Philippe Chatrier court, Almagro was not giving up. Three times he had break point, and three times loose shots saw them all go by. At 3-4 he double-faulted for break point, and Nadal drove him from one side of the court to the other to force the advantage. At the death, Nadal nailed victory by hammering home an ace on his first match point. On this evidence, Rafa is looking as strong as ever, and his dream of a record seventh straight title at Roland Garros is very much alive.