NEWS
RAFA NADAL BEATS GONZALEZ IN A HURRY AND MOVES ON TO US OPEN SEMIS
New York, September 12th 2009
Rafa Nadal wasted little time finishing off Fernando Gonzalez following a day break in their quarterfinals match in the 2009 U.S. Open, winning all seven games to drop the Chilean in straight sets 7-6 (7-4), 7-7 (7-2), 6-0 and advance to the semifinals of the year’s final Grand Slam event.
“I was lucky to win the first four points,” Rafa said on-court after the match. “I’m happy to be in the semifinals for the second time in my career. It is a very important result for me.”
No play was possible yesterday and with rain clouds threatening New York today, Rafa was clearly in a hurry to complete his business. He won four successive points to wrap up the tiebreak 7-2 and from then on Gonzalez's game simply fell apart, allowing Rafa to wrap up the win which took over 40 hours to complete thanks to the bad weather.
“Today’s match wasn't important physically. It doesn't matter to play two days in a row. Well, the condition for me will be the same for the four [semi-finalists]… I'm more fresh than last year, 100% sure. We will see how I am physically tomorrow. But mentally, the last year was totally destroyed mentally. Mentally this year I am perfect."
“The important thing is be calm, be ready to come back. When you come back in one situation like today, anything can happen, because it's a little bit of a lottery – depends on the first two points," Rafa said at the press conference.
The Australian Open champ will now go on to face Juan Martin Del Potro of Argentina in tomorrow’s semis which will take place in Arthur Ashe Stadium at 11:00am.
So far Rafael has a 4-2 career edge over Del Potro, but the Argentine beat him in their most recent meeting, at the Rogers Cup in Montreal last month.
Vamos Rafa!
