1 Response to ao22nadal_berrettini

1. Voo de Mar says:

   January 28, 2022 at 5:30 pm

   Points won by each set: | 32-25, 30-20, 21-30, 25-21 |
   Points won directly behind the serve:
   23 % Nadal – 24 of 102
   37 % Berrettini – 38 of 102

   The semifinal played under roof due to persistent rain. Their second meeting and just like the first encounter it was a Grand Slam semifinal (Nadal won 7-6, 6-4, 6-1 at US Open ’19). Even though the Italian [7] has made a big progress in the past three years and Nadal [5] is ~36-year-old (according to a paradigm of the 90s/00s he should have been already retired), the Spaniard won the first two sets much easier than in their previous meeting. I think Berrettini was too much focused on playing double-handed BHs and because of that he lost his natural FH timing. He trailed 3-6, *0:4 after sixty minutes when finally found his rhythm and the match was balanced for another ~two hours. There was a streak of five consecutive holds at ‘love’ for him but when it ended at 3:4 in the 4th set, Nadal broke and convincingly served out the match in the following game. Trivia: Berrettini has become the first man born in the 90s to reach at least quarterfinal of all major events! He said: “The first two sets weren’t what I expected, what I wanted from myself. I wouldn’t say I was flat, but I wasn’t in the right mood, in the right mental mindset, for many reasons. I think for the first time I’m in the semi-finals, against Rafa, it was good that I had a really good reaction. This is the thing that I’m most proud and happy about.”

   Serve & volley: Nadal 3/3, Berrettini 0

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