Rafael Nadal smashed his way through the finals of the French Tennis Open. The second player in the world and the 11-time champion here in Paris defeated his big rival Roger Federer in the semifinals with 3-0, 6-3 6-4 6-2.
It was his 24th career victory against Federer and the first after six straight losses. He will now defend his title against the winner from Djokovic vs Thiem clash.
The match between the Spaniard and the Swiss was played in terrible conditions, because of the wind which often changed the path of the tennis ball, and also carried the clay all over the place.
Nadal came flying into the match, winning a break point already at the start of the clash. FedEx managed to respond with the same measure, but eventually, the Spaniard took the serve from him once again and solved the first sequence with 6-3 in his favor.
Federer had a huge opportunity to change the course of the meeting at the start of the second set. Roger had a 2-0 lead and was in a position to confirm the break point. Yet again, Nadal showed why he is the best ever on this surface. Until the end of that set, Rafa made another break and definitely took the momentum on his side.
The final part of the event was one-sided domination of the Spanish player. Federer didn’t stand a chance against fired up champion.
Nadal is now 92-2 in Paris, 6-0 against Federer. If he wins another trophy here, it would be a remarkable achievement which would be almost impossible to repeat.
