Madrid, Nadal cancels 4 match points and folds Goffin: he is in the quarterfinals

And in the end, Rafa always comes out. Nadal finds a Nadal win against Goffin, saving four match points in the third set tie-break and winning the final score in almost three and a quarter hours: 6-3 5-7 7-6 (9). A match in which the Spaniard did not shine for large stretches and in which he was dragged for long, after having had two match-points in the second set to close first at 6-3 6-3 and then at 6-3 6- 4. The game seemed over, Goffin took it to third and was very close to closing it. But when the going gets tough, against Rafa – albeit in search of the best condition – there is none for anyone. Nadal, as a phenomenon, has saved two match-points with the short ball, never adopted in a match: the Spaniard advances to the quarter-finals, where he will play against Alcaraz or Norrie.

The first two sets

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In the first set Rafa is imprecise with the forehand (especially from the left) and has moments of skidding in the service, while in the second he definitely rises in level. Everything seems to go smoothly after the first set won despite a not perfect tennis – break by Goffin, immediate counterbreak by Nadal before the second game won in response, for the 5-3 – the second addressed immediately thanks to the break at 1-1 . But when the match seems one step away from the conclusion, with Nadal on the ball and Goffin too light, here is the tail shot of the number 60 in the world, helped by a noticeable drop in Rafa: the Spaniard does not take advantage of two match-points (one in response, the other serves) and gets broken twice in a row, at 5-4 and then at 6-5. He goes to the third set.

The tie-break show

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Nadal suffered chances at the start of the third set: in the first game Goffin saves two break points. In the following games there are more mistakes than the winners: Rafa returns to being extremely foul with the forehand, the Belgian is not very consistent. He goes on “on serve”, with no other chance for the player in response. With the difference that in the final set, from the eighth game, level shots are reviewed by both players, alternating with blackouts. We arrive at the tie-break, where Nadal moves to 4-1 (two mini-breaks of advantages) before Goffin goes wild, finding repeat winners and moving to 6-4, obtaining two match-points: the first is canceled with the serve, the second is wasted with a forehand in the net on his turn to serve. In the next point, Rafa’s backhand is long, the Belgian has another match-point in response: Nadal is saved with the short ball after a row with the forehand. Then there is room for a winner with the Spaniard’s crossed forehand and the match-point goes back to Rafa’s, but he can do nothing against the aggressiveness of the number 60 in the world. The match never ends: another match point for Goffin, another point for Nadal with the short ball. The next occasion is the good one: the Belgian sends the backhand into the corridor, Rafa celebrates.

Murray stop

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There was no match between Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic. The Scotsman retired shortly before taking the field against the Serbian, who now advances directly to the quarter-finals.