2017 Shanghai Rolex Masters has reached the final act, and the upcoming match is set to become one of the highlights of this autumn. Rafael Nadal will take on Roger Federer in an attempt to win his first match against his rival in 2017. But, unlike those three previous meetings from earlier this season, this time is Nadal who holds the momentum while Federer is trying a last-minute attempt to close the gap on the world No. 1 spot. The first two seeds of men's draw in Shanghai, both tennis greats safely navigated their ways into the final. Marin Cilic and Juan Martin del Potro are those who had to swallow today's defeat.
If Nadal wins tomorrow, the world No. 1 race will be pretty much over.
Nadal carefully handled Marin Cilic in two tight sets
The current world No. 1 from Spain bumped into an in-form Croatian player. Reaching the semis without dropping a single set, 2017 Wimbledon runner-up Marin Cilic entered the match determined to put an end to Nadal's winning streak on hard court. As it turned out, he had little success in doing so with Nadal playing a perfect game of tennis, especially in the key moments. The opening set started well for both players. After some break opportunities missed from both sides, things settled down with the scoreboard still standing in balance. At 5-4 for him, Marin Cilic pressed harder on Nadal's serve forcing down the errors.
He had three set points but was unable to convert any of it. As he always does, once he got out of the trap, Nadal went on to break Cilic's in the very next game to seal the set on his serve finally.
The second set had a similar path unfolding down the field. At 5-4, this time for Nadal, the Spaniard wasted a match point on his own serve only to see Cilic breaking him down to push the set further.
It all went down to a tie-break where Nadal's sharpness paid off for the Spaniard. A solid win for Nadal who is one match away from winning Shanghai Rolex Masters for the very first time.
Del Potro almost denied the second Fedal in a month
A solid run in Shanghai put del Potro on the track for an unexpected bid for the ATP Finals in London.
En route to the semis, he scored another high-profile win by defeating the world No. 4 Alexander Zverev. Seeking to win his first ever Masters 1000 event, the 29-year-old Argentine took on Roger Federer for a place in the men's final. The opening set saw del Potro with the upper hand as he broke opponent's serve first. As it turned out it was enough for him to sea the opening set by 6-3. On the other side, Roger Federer was searching for some viable solutions to match del Potro's firepower.
The second act saw an increased level of aggressiveness from Federer's racket. The sixth game of the set was crucial for the rest of the match. Lasting 15 minutes it gave Federer five chances to break del Potro's serve for the first time.
Once he did that, the shift in momentum was obvious with Federer taking the strings in his own hands. Winning the set by 6-3 pushed the encounter into a decisive third act. An early break for Federer was all that the Swiss star needed to get things right. From that point on, he was in charge of the action with del Potro's hopes hanging by a useless thread.
Bottom line, it's Fedal celebration once more as Federer will take on Nadal for the fourth time this season and for a third time in a final after Melbourne and Miami.
