Rafael Nadal ties with Roger Federer’s unique record after his quarter-final victory over Alexander Zverev in the Italian Open 2021
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Rafael Nadal
Rafael Nadal‘s love affair with Clay continues as he reaches his 12th Rome Masters semi-final with his victory over World No. 7 Alexander Zverev.
Rafael Nadal had been dealt a tough run of fixtures at the Italian Open 2021. His campaign started with a 2nd round win over Italian teenager Jannik Sinner. He then played one of his longest game of the year when against Canadian Denis Shapovalov who took the Spaniard to 3-sets in a match that went for nearly 3.5 hours, with Nadal saving 2 match points.
Next up was Zverev in the quarter-finals who had defeated Nadal in the same round last week at the Madrid Masters 2021. Nadal however saw him through easily winning 6-3, 6-4 to qualify for his 12th semi-final in Rome in his quest for his 10th title.
Rafael Nadal ties Roger Federer’s another record
The quarter-final victory helped Rafael Nadal tie another record of his arch-rival and friend Roger Federer. With his qualification to the semis, Nadal is now into the 17th consecutive season of his career where he has made it into at least 1 ATP Masters 1000 semi-final.
Roger Federer currently holds the record of reaching minimum 1 semi-final at a Masters 1000 tournament for 17 consecutive seasons which started from 2002 and ended in 2019 as the Swiss Maestro did not play the 2020 season post his knee surgery that ruled him out for the entire season.
Nadal’s streak started from 2005 and now ties Federer at 17 seasons. With Federer’s streak ending in 2019, Nadal is also on course to break Federer’s record if he manages to reach another Masters semi-finals in 2022 season and get the record to his name.
Nadal and Federer are already tied on 20-Grand Slams each after the Spaniard clinched the 2020 French Open and will be the favourite at the upcoming 2021 French Open and can get to 21 Grand Slams before Federer who has been unsuccessful in getting to 21 Grand Slams since 2018 when he won his 6th Australian Open in 2018.
Rafa will next play in the semi-finals at the Rome Masters whereas Roger will start his Clay season at the Geneva Open 2021.
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Sarthak Shitole
(3462 Articles Published)