Rafa's Birthday Party Ends In Victory, But Disappointment - UBITENNIS
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Rafa’s Birthday Party Ends In Victory, But Disappointment

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Rafael Nadal - Roland Garros 2022 (photo Twitter @USOpen)

Everyone seemed to be worried about Rafa Nadal’s left foot. And they all might have seen the worries about men’s tennis’ all-time Grand Slam singles title leader come true, if the French Open semifinal had played all the way out.

Of course, that didn’t happen. And Nadal should be in relatively good shape for Norway’s Casper Ruud in Sunday’s final, even though Ruud is 13 years younger.

Rafa’s 36th birthday party turned into something of a disappointment for almost everyone. Even Rafa was almost in tears.

LESS THAN TWO SETS IN THREE HOURS

It turns out that Rafa’s opponent, hard-hitting Alexander Zverev, decided the match when he stumbled on the last point that was played in the 12th game of the second set. Sascha, as his friends call him, rolled and lay crying out while holding his right ankle on the red clay of Roland Garros’ Court Philippe Chatrier

Zverev was taken from the court in a wheel chair. When he returned to the court to retire, he was on crutches with his bare right foot lifted.

They had played for more than three hours, but didn’t even finish two sets.

The final score was 7-6 (8), 6-6, retired.

AMAZING SHOT-MAKING BY BOTH PLAYERS

Both Nadal and Zverev made amazing shots throughout the match, but the second set wasn’t always pretty, even before Zverev’s tumble.

The match will be long remembered by the fans in a packed stadium and TV viewers. After that wonderful first set in which Nadal owned three set points, only to be forced into a tiebreaker,

Zverev even had four set points of his own in the tiebreaker when he grabbed a 6-2 lead, but Nadal finally closed out the 6-6 German on his sixth set point of the first set, 91 minutes into the match.

RAFA FOUND NEW LIFE

Nadal looked out of sorts in his first four service games of the second set. He was broken in all of them, a rarity for Rafa. 

The Spanish left-hander seemed to find new life to hold service in the 10th and 12th games. As Zverev’s mighty forehand down the line landed outside of the line to end the 12th game, Zverev was tripping up over his right foot and tumbled to the turf, ending his hopes of winning a first Grand Slam title.

Of course, Rafa goes on to his 14th French Open final. He has never lost a Roland Garros final.

Winning a 22nd Grand Slam title would give Nadal what might be an almost unbeatable lead in his race with 20-time Grand Slam champions Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer.

James Beck was the 2003 winner of the USTA National Media Award  for print media. A 1995 MBA graduate of The Citadel, he can be reached at Jamesbecktennis@gmail.com. 

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Elena Rybakina beats Victoria Azarenka to reach her fourth final of the season at the Miami Open

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Former Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina beat Victoria Azarenka 6-4 0-6 7-6 (7-2) in the semifinal of the Miami Open to reach her fourth final of the season. 

Rybakina has improved to 4-0 in her head-to-head matches against Azarenka and has a seasonal record of 22 wins to 3 defeats. 

Both players were not able to convert their early break points in the opening set. 

Azarenka saved four break points in the first game to hold serve after three deuces. Rybakina fended off two break points in the sixth game. 

Rybakina earned the first break of the match in the seventh game to take a 4-3 lead. Azarenka earned a break point in the eighth game, but she was not able to convert it. Rybakina served out the first set with a hold at love. 

Azarenka broke three times to race through to a bagel win in the second set. The three-time Miami Open champion dropped just two points on serve in the second set. She made a double faul on one of these points. 

Rybakina stopped Azarenka’s seven-game streak by holding serve to draw level to 1-1 in the third set. Rybakina earned her fifth break point in the fifth game with a backhand pass, as Azarenka was serving at 2-2, and converted her chance to take a 3-2 lead, when Azarenka hit a backhand into the net. Rybakina consolidated the break by holding serve to take a 4-2 lead. Rybakina fended off a break point with her 10th ace, as she was serving for the match at 5-4, but Azarenka earned a second break point after a long baseline exchange. Azarenka converted her break point when Rybakina volleyed into the net. Rybakina earned three mini-breaks to win the tie-break 7-2. 

Rybakina won two titles in Brisbane and Abu Dhabi and reached her first WTA 1000 final of the season in Doha on hard court. 

Last year the Kazakh player won in Indian Wells and was a win away from winning the Sunshine Double in the Miami Open final, where she lost to Petra Kvitova 7-6 (16-14) 6-2. 

Rybakina is just the third player in the last ten years to reach back to back Miami finals following Serena Williams and Ashleigh Barty. 

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Alexander Zverev beats Fabian Maroszan to reach the semifinal in Miami

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Alexander Zverev beat Fabian Maroszan 6-3 7-5 to reach his third semifinal of the 2024 season at the Miami Open. 

Zverev will face the winner of the quarter final match between this year’s Indian Wells champion Carlos Alcaraz and 11 seed Grigor Dimitrov. Zverev reached the final at the Miami Open in 2018. 

Should Alcaraz beats Dimitrov, the Spanish player would meet Zverev for the second time this month. Alcaraz beat Zverev 6-3 6-1 in the quarter finals at Indian Wells. 

Zverev won 80% of his first serve points and saved the only two break points he faced. The German player committed just 10 unforced errors to Maroszan’s 23. 

Zverev converted his fourth break point in the third game of the first set and held serve at 15 to take a 3-1 lead. The 2021 German player saved a break point in the sixth game keepin a one-break lead. He closed out the first set 6-3 with a double break at 30.

Maroszan saved a break point in the second game of the second set to hold serve at love for 1-1. Zverev fended off a break point in the fifth game to hold serve after two deuces for 3-2. Both players held on serve until the 12th game. Zverev was leading 6-5 when Maroszan served to send the second set into the tie-break. The Hungarian player earned two game points, but he did not convert his chances. 

Zverev broke serve after two deuces on his first match point to seal the second set 7-5. 

“I love Miami. I always said that. I am happy to be back in these late stages of these tournaments, playing the best players in the world. I think there are only those left. I am looking forward to the challenge. If Maroszan keeps playing like that, he’s going to rise up the rankings very quickly. He always rushes you. I think when all players feel like they are in control, they feel like they manage the match and play the match a little bit in their own favour and against him, it’s not possible. That’s why he has such a great top 10 record of 4-2. He is an unbelievable player”, said Zverev. 

Maroszan was playing in his second quarter final at Masters 1000 level after reaching this stage in Shanghai in 2023. The Hungarian player has moved up 19 spots to a career-high of number 38 in the ATP Live Rankings. He will become the Hungarian player to reach the top 50 in the ATP Ranking. Earlier this tournament he claimed two top 10 wins over Holger Rune and Alex De Minaur. 

Zverev is aiming his sixth Masters 1000 title and his first trophy in the series since Cincinnati 2021. 

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Ekaterina Alexandrova upsets Jessica Pegula to reach the semifinal at the Miami Open

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World number 16 Ekaterina Alexandrova came back from one set down to upset Jessica Pegula 3-6 6-4 6-4 in 1 hour and 58 minutes reaching the semifinals at the Miami Open.

Alexandrova has drawn level to 1-1 in her head-to-head matches against Pegula. 

Alexandrova beat top 5 players In back-to-back matches for the first time in her career with her wins over world number 1 Iga Swiatek and Pegula. In her previous two rounds of the Miami Open she had defeated Donna Vekic and Anastasya Pavlyuchenkova. 

Alexandrova also beat 2022 Elena Rybakina in Adelaide last January and has the most wins in 2024 against players ranked in the top 5. She has a record of 6 wins to 17 defeats against top 5 players in her career.   

Pegula won four consecutive games from 2-3 down with two breaks to seal the first set 6-3. Alexandrova fought back breaking serve in the first game of the second set. The Russian player went up a double break in the seventh game to open up a 5-2 lead. Pegula pulled one break back in the eighth game for 3-5. Alexandrova served out the second set at love to force the match to the decider. 

Alexandrova earned an early break in the fifth game to take a 3-2 lead. Pegula broke straight back in the sixth game to draw level to 3-3, when Alexandrova double faulted on her fourth break point. Pegula held serve in the seventh game after a fantastic rally, but Alexandrova earned the decisive break, when Pegula went long with her backhand return on the second break point. Alexandrova held serve on her second match point and fell to her knees in joy.  

“It was extremely difficult for me because Pegula played amazing. In the third set, there were sometimes the kind of rallies where I could not understand how it was possible to return that ball, but it always came back. I just tried to play every single point like I knew she was going to be everywhere, so I need to do something and I was trying to wait and use any opportunities that I got”, said Alexandrova. 

Alexandrova set up a semifinal against Danielle Collins, the last remaining US player. It will be the first head-to-head match between Alexandrova and Collins.  

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