Ever the competitor, Rafael Nadal came back from being down a set and a break to beat Marin Cilic and move on to the semifinals in the Swiss Indoors Basel: 4-6, 6-3, 6-3. This was Nadal’s third three-setter in the tournament. Both players have been coming on strong at the end of the season. Cilic, the 7th seed, is coming off a title in Moscow last week. He was a quarterfinalist in Tokyo earlier this month and reached the semifinals at the US Open. Although Nadal, seeded 3rd, has neither Major nor Masters titles this year, he played well in Shanghai (semifinalist) and the China Open (finalist). Today’s contest lived up to expectations exhibiting stretches of good serving, penetrating groundstrokes, superb angle shots and excellent court coverage.
The Croatian took the first set with outstanding serving – 6 aces and winning 80% of his service points. Nadal had only 5 points on Cilic’s serve in the first set, one of them being a double fault by Cilic. Nadal dropped serve in the ninth game with three unforced errors and a backhand winner by Cilic. Cilic served out the set in style with three aces.
Nadal lost serve again to start the second set. The Spaniard appeared frustrated over a couple of line calls in the first set. He soon got past his frustration and challenged Cilic’s serve in the second game, but the Croatian consolidated the break. Nadal upped his level of play, hitting the ball cleanly and making it difficult for Cilic to get free points. Nadal broke back in the fourth game. The Spaniard was able to break Cilic’s serve again in the eighth game, putting pressure on the second serve, which contributed to three double faults. Cilic battled in the final game of the set but Nadal prevailed. Cilic’s was not able to maintain the high level of serving of the first set. Second serve points won in the second set dropped to 33% compared to 71% in the first set. In addition, his unforced errors (especially off his forehand wing) were 21 versus 13 in the first set. Nadal got good depth on his shots and also used his backhand slice well, causing problems for Cilic.
The Spaniard got off to great start in the third set breaking Cilic at 15. For the next seven games, each player comfortably held serve. However, serving at 3-5, Cilic’s forehand, which had been faltering since the second set, proved his undoing. With three match points to work with, Nadal jumped on the second opportunity to close out the match.
Nadal will face Richard Gasquet, ranked 11, in the semifinals. History favors Nadal who is 13-0 against the Frenchman.
