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By Richard Pagliaro | Tuesday, May 7, 2019

 
Rafael Nadal

Rafael Nadal dissected Felix Auger-Aliassime, 6-3, 6-3, earning his 50th career win in Madrid and setting up a round of 16 match vs. Frances Tiafoe.

Photo credit: Barcelona Open BancSabadell – Trofeo Conde de Godo Facebook

Birthday parties don’t excite Rafael Nadal much anymore, but milestones motivate the five-time Madrid champion.

An energized Nadal mixed spins and angles masterfully dissecting 18-year-old phenom Felix Auger-Aliassime, 6-3, 6-3, to earn his 50th career Mutua Madrid Open triumph.

More: Roger Slays on Clay

The second-seeded Spaniard shook off the stomach bug he said left him feeling depleted ahead of his first clash with the gifted Canadian, who grew up looking up to Rafa’s rival Roger Federer.

Nadal dropped just five points on first serve improving to 18-4 on the season.

Playing with a youthful bounce against an opponent 14 years younger, Nadal crunched solid combinations throughout with his lone stumble coming when he double-faulted away a break while serving for the match at 5-3.

The 32-year-old Spaniard answered by breaking back to close in one hour, 37 minutes.

"It has been a tough few days with virus in the stomach so for me the main thing was the victory," Nadal said afterward. "It has been a tough first round and I'm very very happy to be through."




Launching his quest for his first title of the season and sixth Madrid crown, Nadal used a five-game surge late in the second set to take charge.

The reigning Roland Garros champion alternated high, heavy topspin to the Canadian’s two-handed backhand with low slithering slice before launching drives to the forehand wing. That disorienting mix coaxed Auger-Aliassime into 30 unforced errors, including 16 from the forehand.

Playing just his 42nd career match, the Canadian actually arrived at this encounter with more clay-court wins on the season than the king of clay.

Through the first eight games, Auger-Aliassime was thumping his forehand with more vigor than the five-time champion, trying to take the ball on the rise and dictate play.

Digging out a lob to reset, Nadal changed the rhythm using the slice backhand and his legs to coax the Canadian into dragging his forehand wide to face the first break point of the match.

The forehand failed Auger-Aliassime again as he trampolined his fourth forehand error of the game off the top of the tape giving the Spaniard the break and a 5-3 lead.

Fast forward movement put Nadal in position to knock off a volley for double-set point. Auger-Aliassime sailed one final forehand return as Nadal closed the 46-minute opener on the strength of that single break.

The good news for Auger-Aliassime: When he set his feet and timed the ball on the rise he dictated play for some stretches.

The bad news: Nadal’s skill shaping different heights and mixing different spins created cracks in the Canadian’s forehand, which did not hold up over the final two games of the set.

The forehand down the line is a barometer of Nadal’s confidence. When he’s driving that shot with menacing intentions, he can torment opponents and stretch leads rapidly.

The second seed slid a forehand down the line breaking to start the second set.

Playing heavier topspin to spread the court, Nadal was striking with more conviction as he backed up the break wrapping his fifth straight game for a 2-0 second-set lead.

Attacking behind a cross-court backhand, the Canadian paid the price for opening up the court as Nadal drove a forehand dagger down the line for break points. Leaning low, Nadal wrong-footed his opponent with a backhand bold breaking for the third time for 5-2.

Closure wasn’t clean. A Nadal miss-hit sat up and Auger-Aliassime scalded a forehand for break point. Hit with a time violation warning, Nadal coughed up his third double fault to give back one of the breaks.

Shaking it off, Nadal curled a forehand down the line for triple match point.

Auger-Aliassime dug in and denied all three—then saved two more match points, including shoveling a drop volley winner.

On his sixth match point, Nadal closed when Auger-Aliassime sailed a forehand.

The 11-time Roland Garros champion moved on to a rematch vs. Frances Tiafoe, who converted four of five break points in a 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 decision over German veteran Philipp Kohlschreiber.

"A tough one, he is this kind of player that is electric, that is fast and he can play very, very aggressive and I need to play my best," Nadal said of Tiafoe. "I think the match-up from today will help me for tomorrow. So I need to be ready for it." 

The Nadal-Tiafoe match is a rematch of the Australian Open quarterfinals, which Nadal swept in straight sets.

Tiafoe's first impression of Nadal will last forever: Crazy intensity.

"It was tough. It was tough definitely," Tiafoe said after Nadal dispensed a straight-sets thrashing to charge into his 30th Grand Slam semifinal. "I mean, he's a hell of a player, man. Yeah, I mean, his ball is kicking up like crazy.

"Court was really slow. Yeah, it was just tough to really hit the room. I felt like I was hitting a lot of balls long early. Probably overplaying. I got in a decent rhythm there for a hot sec, but he's just tough and he's played on that court, so he's more comfortable than me."

The winner of Nadal vs. Tiafoe will play the winner of the backhand battle between former finalists Kei Nishikori and Stan Wawrinka in the quarterfinals.



The seventh-seeded Nishikori converted five of 24 break-point chances in a 7-5, 7-5 win over Hugo Dellien .

Three-time Grand Slam champion Wawrinka fought off all five break points he faced fending off Guido Pella, 6-3, 6-4. Wawrinka, the 2013 Madrid runner-up, has won six of 10 meetings vs. Nishikori, including their lone clay clash in the 2012 Buenos Aires quarterfinals.


 

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