French Open 2018: Normal service resumed as Rafael Nadal secures semi-final spot

He might be the greatest player in French Open history but even Rafael Nadal can feel the pressure here. After coming from behind to beat Argentina’s Diego Schwartzman 4-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-2 and book his place in the semi-finals for the 11thtime, the world No 1 admitted on Thursday that nerves had played a part in his poor start to the match, which had seen his run of 37 winning sets in succession at Roland Garros come to an end.

“I am human,” Nadal said with a smile after booking a semi-final meeting with Juan Martin del Potro. “Sometimes you play better, sometimes you are more nervous.”

Nadal, who has gone on to win the title every time he has made the semi-finals here, won 16 of the last 20 games against Schwartzman, but only after building on the comeback which he had begun after a rain delay the previous evening.

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Before that interruption Schwartzman had led by a set and a break, but Nadal turned the match around when they returned, even though they only played for another 17 minutes. The defending champion was serving for the set at 5-3 and 30-15 when play was called off for the day.

Nadal picked up where he had left off when they resumed today at midday in bright sunshine. He had more zip in his serve, hit the ball with renewed confidence and played with more aggression to take his record here to 83 victories from 85 matches.

“Of course the stop yesterday helped, because it was at a tough moment,” Nadal said afterwards. “He was playing great and I was playing too defensively. I felt that I was playing under a little bit more stress than usual and he was able to take control of the point too many times.

“I played more aggressively today. I continued the level of intensity that I played after the first stop yesterday and in my opinion the match changed.Of course he’s a tough opponent, and it’s always going to be a tough match against him, but at the same time I think that after the first rain delay the match changed a lot. I played more aggressively, with high intensity.”

Nadal added: “I was not opening the court with the backhand [yesterday]. I was playing too far behind the baseline. He was taking the ball earlier than me.I had the feeling he had control of the point too many times. I changed after that. I increased the intensity, increased the determination on how to play my shots and I played closer to the baseline, so the match changed drastically.”

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The Spaniard admitted that he had been more nervous than usual going into the match.“If you don't feel the pressure, it's because you don't love the sport,” he said. “And if you don't love the sport you’d better go back home and do something else.

Schwartzman agreed that the rain the previous evening had not helped his cause. “Yesterday I was hitting many winners, not many unforced errors,” the Argentinian said. “He was not playing his best tennis. Maybe yesterday was the day when you could beat Rafa.

“Today he started playing totally differently. He was aggressive, hitting winners and making no mistakes, so the match changed a lot.”

Nadal was on his game from the start and immediately won the two points he needed to level the match at one set apiece. Schwartzman was broken to 15 in the first game of the third set and dropped serve again in the fifth game as Nadal kept building the pressure.

The defending champion broke again in the third and fifth games of the fourth set and completed victory when he converted his fourth match point with a forehand winner. His jig of delight at the end told you that winning here means as much to him as it ever did.

Del Potro, who lost to Roger Federer in the semi-finals here in 2009, reached the last four again by beating Marin Cilic 7-6, 5-7, 6-3, 7-5 in a heavyweight confrontation between two of the game’s biggest hitters. The match had been halted by rain on Wednesday evening with the score at 5-5 in the tie-break at the end of the first set.

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Del Potro immediately drew first blood by winning the first two points on the resumption. Cilic wasted his first chance to serve out for the second set at 5-4 but made no mistake two games later. The Croatian also led in the third set, only for Del Potro to fight back. In the fourth Cilic was broken at 5-5, giving Del Potro the chance to serve out for the match.

After so many physical issues over the years, including four wrist operations and even a doubt as to whether he would play here this year, Del Potro was in tears as he talked about the prospect of playing in the semi-finals again. “It’s tough to speak,” he said in his post-match on-court interview as fans in Court Suzanne Lenglen sang “Delpo! Delpo!”

He said later: “I was close to quitting this sport two years ago, but I never gave up. I tried every day to fix the problem in my wrist. In the end I got it and now I'm having a great present, looking forward to the future.

“Of course I didn't expect to be in the top five again, to reach the semi-finals at a big tournament after all my injuries. But now it's time to talk about the present in a good way. I think all the tougher moments of my life are completely in the past.”