1 Response to iw22fritz_nadal

1. Voo de Mar says:

   March 21, 2022 at 1:22 pm

   Points won by each set: | 30-23, 52-49 |
   Points won directly behind the serve:
   15 % Fritz – 12 of 76
   17 % Nadal – 14 of 78

   The 36-year-old Nadal [4] was poorly playing in the opener, like he wanted to check his body – his physical problems couldn’t surprise as he experienced very tough route to the final (in his first match he was trailing 2:5* in the 3rd to Sebastian Korda; more than 3-hour match against Alcaraz in the semis). The Spaniard took a six-minute medical time-out after the opener, left the court and came back with an improved physicality. The 2nd set was crazy (7 out of 12 games went to ‘deuce’) – at 2-all Fritz saved four break points, one of them with an unusual exchange of four consecutive volleys, at 4-all (30-all) he lost a 36-stroke rally but withstood a mini-set point attacking the net, he also fend off a double mini-set point at 5-all (the second BP with his lone ace); in the meantime he had a match point at 5:4. In the tie-break he led 3:1, then at *5:4 Nadal had a relatively easy position to finish the point with a FH drive-volley – missed badly. Serving at 6:5 Fritz didn’t seek a quick solution, delivered a moderate first serve, but Nadal’s return was short and the American attacked the ball with his rock-solid forehand inside-out forcing an error. He celebrated the biggest win of his career on his back in disbelief. “I can’t even begin to describe how ridiculous it is that I was able to play how I could play today,” said the 24-year-old Fritz [20] after his longest two-set match so far (2 hours 6 minutes). “I’ve never experienced worse pain in my life before a match. We did a lot of work leading up to the match and I went through a roller coaster of emotions before the match, from thinking there was no way I could possibly play to then doing all this work on the ankle, doing so much stuff to it… I came out here and it didn’t really affect me at all.”

   Fritz’s route to his 2nd title (122nd main-level tournament):
   2 Kamil Majchrzak 6-1, 6-1
   3 Jaume Munar 6-4, 2-6, 7-6(2)
   4 Alex de Minaur 3-6, 6-4, 7-6(5)
   Q Miomir Kecmanovic 7-6(5), 3-6, 6-1
   S Andrey Rublev 7-5, 6-4
   W Rafael Nadal 6-3, 7-6(5)

   # Fritz was 5 points away from losing to Munar, 2 points vs De Minaur (*4:5 in tie-break)… 19-3 in deciding tie-breaks (all levels)!
   He has snapped Rublev’s 13-match winning streak and Nadal’s 16-match winning streak!

   Log in to Reply