Rafael Nadal continues his quest for the first Paris Masters title. He takes on 20-year-old Denis Shapovalov from Canada in the semis on Saturday.

If he wins, the Spaniard will reach the Paris Masters final for the first time since 2007. Claiming the title, on the other hand, will guarantee the year-end number 1 ranking. No matter what happens, Nadal will replace Novak Djokovic as the world No.1 on Monday.

Nadal hasn't been beaten since Wimbledon semi-finals

It’s no secret that Rafael Nadal has been struggling with indoor hard courts over the years, but this year at the Paris Masters he’s been playing some fantastic Tennis so far, defeating Mannarino, Wawrinka, and finally Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in two sets.

He’s now in the tournament’s semi-final for the fourth time in his career.

He was, however, pushed pretty hard in the opening set in his quarterfinal match against Jo-Wilfried Tsonga on Friday night. Once he was able to claim the opening set in the tie-break, Nadal pulled away, winning 7-6 6-1. It was his 14th consecutive tour victory.

The Spaniard hasn’t been defeated since the Wimbledon semis where he lost to Roger Federer. After that, he managed to claim titles at Rogers Cup in Montreal and, of course, the final slam of the year, the US Open. He’s now looking to claim his fifth title of the season at the Paris Masters. The Spaniard also won Roland Garros for the 12th time this year, and also Rome Masters, defeating Novak Djokovic in the final.

With his win against Tsonga, Rafael Nadal managed to reach 10 consecutive semi-finals. If he wins against Shapovalov, he’ll reach a sixth final of the season.

Shapovalov looking to repeat his Montreal 2017 success

Denis Shapovalov is also playing some fantastic tennis this week at the Paris Masters. He defeated Simon (via retirement), Fognini, Zverev, and finally Gael Monfils.

The young Canadian star reached his fourth Masters 1000 semi-final. If he beats Nadal, Shapovalov will play his first-ever Masters final on Sunday.

Although Shapovalov has been playing fantastic tennis in Paris, his 6-2 6-2 win over Gael Monfils was at another level, thus ending the Frenchman’s hopes of qualifying for the ATP Finals.

According to Shapovalov, the match against Monfils was one of those matches where nothing was going wrong for him. He felt like any shot he hit was finding its way into the court.

Denis Shapovalov is an incredibly talented player, the future of tennis, but it’s lack of consistency that seems to hold him back so far in his career. He reached semis at the Miami Masters this yeat, but then he went on to win just 4 matches in the 11 tournaments.

His results have been better recently, after adding Mikhail Youzhny to the team. He reached the semis at Winston-Salem, and Chengdu, and won his first-ever title on the tour in Stockholm.

Shapovalov defeated Nadal in their first-ever meeting in Montreal 2017, the Spaniard leveled the score last year in Rome.

The Canadian is certainly capable of defeating Nadal once again on Saturday, especially considering how fantastic he’s been playing the whole week. But Nadal is also in excellent form, and Shapovalov has to be at his best if he wants to repeat his Montreal 2017 success.
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