French Open 2014: Rafael Nadal quells David Ferrer to reach last four
Rafael Nadal and David Ferrer started their affair a little later than their counterparts on Phillippe Chatrier. The two know each other well having played several times and though Ferrer has recently beaten Nadal a couple of times, he was also carrying the scars from his mauling last year in the finals of the French Open. Despite winning the first set, Ferrer faded away quickly and Nadal roared to a 4-6, 6-4, 6-0, 6-1 victory in two hours and 34 minutes. The defending champion was dominant in the end, winning 13 of 14 games to scamper home before light could fade away.
After an early exchange of breaks, the two men steadied their boats and there was barely much to separate the two Spanish matadors. The set stayed on serve as Nadal held to love to keep it even at 4-4.
Ferrer was equally determined and an easy service game, left Nadal having to serve to stay in the set. The eight time champion fell to 15-40 though and when he sent an easy put away straight at Ferrer, the man from Valencia struck a brilliant forehand cross court winner to pass Nadal and take the first set.
The defending champion may have been rattled, but was far from willing to allow his compatriot to run away with the situation. Adding power, spin and depth all at once to his ground strokes, Nadal broke Ferrer in the third game of the second set to restore some balance to their brutally physical contest.
Ferrer had a good look on the Nadal serve in the sixth game, but squandered break points from 15-40 to allow his opponent to retain possession of the break of serve at 4-2. When Nadal held serve to keep his edge intact at 5-3, it fell upon Ferrer to serve and try to stay in the second set.
Ferrer held serve in the ninth, but Nadal gained set points in the next game with a service winner before closing it out with a thumping backhand cross court winner to get the match back under control. As if just to underline his grip over the situation, Nadal broke Ferrer to love in the first game of the third set.
You will be hard pressed to find another player who can dig his heels as Nadal can at the first scent of distress. Pounding mercilessly at the ball, especially off his forehand, the world No.1 broke again to take a 3-0 lead as the match started to slip farther away from Ferrer.
The world No.5 drove a forehand into the net to offer another break point to Nadal in the fifth game and the defending champion accepted with glee, claiming it with an easy forehand volley to inch closer to serving a bagel to Ferrer.
Nadal had two set points when Ferrer dumped a backhand return into the bottom of the net. He needed just the one as he toasted his ascendance with a fluid forehand winner to gain a two sets to one lead. Ferrer continued to play insipid tennis and another forehand error handed Nadal a break in the first game of the fourth set.
Just when it looked like he might be rolled over, Ferrer displayed some remnants of life – striking a forehand of purpose to gain three break points. But then he reverted to his tame corner again to allow Nadal to claw back and hold serve to 2-0.
The match was essentially laid to rest when Nadal broke a second time – with a fearsome forehand winner to the top corner of the ad-court – to take a commanding 3-0 lead. After losing ten straight games, Ferrer finally earned one when he broke Nadal in the fourth game.
But he undid the good work by surrendering yet another break in the next game to leave Nadal at 4-1, two games short of a comprehensive victory despite having lost the first set. Eager to wrap up victory before the light fades, Nadal pulled out a quick service game to inch closer to victory.
Serving to stay in the match, Ferrer found it all a little too much as he sailed a forehand wide to end the match at the first opportunity for Nadal. The world No. 5 fizzled out after a good start to suffer a rather one sided loss, his 22nd in 28 matches against his compatriot.
Ferrer slipped into a maze of errors after winning a tightly contested first set – making as many as 50 unforced errors to just 21 from Nadal. Both players had an equal 14 break points each, but while Nadal converted nine of them, Ferrer managed to take a paltry three of those to his bank.