The Spanish Rafael Nadal defeated Russian Daniil Medvedev 6-3, 6-3 on Friday.first favorite, and qualified for the final of the Mexican Tennis Open, in which he will face the British Cameron Norrie. Nadal won the key points in the first set and saved 11 break points in the second to prevail over a Medvedev, who at times showed excellent tennis and at others was unfocused.
The match fulfilled the expectations with which it began, by putting the finalists of the Australian Open face to face, in which Nadal won his twenty-first Grand Slam by beating the Russian. The Balearic tennis player’s effectiveness with the first service was 68% in the first set, but he took advantage of the unforced errors of his opponent, whom he won the decisive points and won 6-3. In the fourth game, Rafa broke his rival’s serve and from then on he kept up his aggressive tennis from the back of the court to make a difference in his favor.
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In the second, Medvedev started erratically, lost serve at the start and fell behind. The Russian tried to recover the initiative, he created the conditions, but he could not break before a Nadal who showed mental superiority and saved four break points in game four and seven in game six, both of long duration. Medvedev assured his service turns almost in a row until in the ninth game Nadal came from behind and broke to sign the victory.
This Saturday, the man from Manacor will face Norrie, sixth seed, for the title, who won 6-4, 6-4 against Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas, third seed. In a match that was decided in the details, Norrie broke the Greek’s serve in the ninth game of the two sets and was unstoppable on his left-footed serve. If he fulfills his condition as favorite in the final, Nadal will reach his compatriot David Ferrer and the Austrian Thomas Muster as the top winners of Open titles, the 500th ATP tournament, which is played in Acapulco, this year with a prize pool of one million, $832,890.