Rafael Nadal was struggling for much of the opening set of his huge French Open semi-final clash with Alexander Zverev but came up with some magic when he had to. The 13-time champion at Roland-Garros, who is seeking a remarkable second successive Grand Slam to move to a staggering 22 major singles titles after his triumph at the Australian Open, watched on as Zverev dominated the early exchanges.
Ad/> But under the roof on Court Philippe-Chatrier, Nadal exploded to life at the business end of the set to break back at a crucial moment and then win the tie-break to stamp his authority on the match. /> Roland-Garros'No! He just doesn't miss overheads!' — Nadal howler brings up Zverev break point35 MINUTES AGO No point was more impressive or significant than his incredible winner when appearing to be under the cosh and out of the rally at 6-4 down in the breaker to the German, who had two set points.
Nadal somehow managed to get a backhand back at full stretch to a huge Zverev groundstroke that appeared to be a winner, but even better was to follow seconds later. The King of Clay, incredibly, then sprinted the width of the court to fling himself at a seemingly certain point-ender from Zverev and rip it cross-court for a totally outrageous winner of his own.
It was a staggering shot to follow another, and the third seed at the other end of the court was simply left to shrug, shake his head and process his disbelief. Simon Reed, on commentary for Eurosport, reacted: “It seemed impossible to win that point! «Zverev hammered it into the corner and still it wasn’t enough.
He can’t blame himself for that [not winning the point].” Miles Maclagan added: “On a couple of occasions, look where he [Nadal] is retrieving from. Some
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