Rafael Nadal is into another US Open semis and will try to capture his third title in New York just enough to make it even with Roger Federer in terms of Majors won in 2017. On the other side of the net will stand Juan Martin del Potro, 2009 US Open champion and the one who stunned Federer yesterday. Thus, the Argentine is going one step deeper at Flushing Meadows and will meet Nadal in the same phase as he did back in 2009.
Against Andrey Rublev, Nadal seemed to have found that extra gear in terms of tennis quality as he went delivering a flawless performance against the 19-year-old Russian rising star.
Thus, del Potro is his first big test at 2017 Us Open Tennis Championships, and it may be a bit odd that he had to wait until the semis to get that. It's the particularity of this tournament, an event with a flurry of upsets and absences.
Rafael Nadal will face a top 30 player after dealing with players ranked outside the top 50 so far
The 31-year-old Spaniard may consider himself a lucky person as he went through five stages without facing a single threat. He got past Lajovic, Taro Daniel, Leandro Mayer, Alexandr Dolgopolov and Andrey Rublev en route to the semis. All those low-ranked players helped Nadal building a sense of confidence after having won five matches in a row at a Grand Slam. Prior to US Open, Nadal had poor results in Montreal and Cincinnati.
A title at 2017 US Open will cement Rafael Nadal's position as the world No. 1. And the final will bring Pablo Carreno-Busta or Kevin Anderson on the other side of the net. All that he needs to do is to surpass del Potro.
Del Potro exceeded all expectations
Del Potro entered US Open with no big goal to follow. It was an understandable approach as a result of a poor season.
Navigating his way into the fourth round, he bumped into Dominic Thiem to produce one of the best matches of the tournament. Being two sets down, del Potro mounted a monstrous comeback to win in five sets. Saving two match points has just simply added something to the drama. Some unknown mechanism triggered inside him as he went to crush Roger Federer in the quarterfinals.
His forehand is again into the news as he blistered plenty of winners with it throughout the tournament.
He will face Nadal in the same spot as he did in 2009 when he went on to win his only Grand Slam title after that epic final against Federer. If he gets past Nadal, he will have a huge chance to clinch his second Major, eight years after his breakthrough success. In head to head stats, Nadal leads del Potro by 8-5.
