Rafael Nadal Wary of Diego Schwartzman Challenge in French Open 2020 Semifinals

World No. 2 Rafael Nadal is just two matches away from lifting the French Open 2020. Playing his 100th match at Roland Garros., Nadal defeated Jannik Sinner 7-6(4), 6-4, 6-1 in the quarterfinals after two hours and 49 minutes. The Spaniard advanced to a record 13th semifinal in Paris and hasn’t lost a set en route to the semifinal stage.

Sinner broke Nadal’s serve at 5-5 in the first set but unfortunately lost the following game, which pushed the set to a tie-break. Nadal raced to take the lead in the tie-break to close out the opening set and then quickly broke Sinner’s serve in the second set to take a 3-1 lead.

The 12-time Roland Garros champion will face Diego Schwartzman at the penultimate stage. Schwartzman outlasted No. 3 seed Dominic Thiem in the quarterfinal in a thrilling five-set match to reach his first-ever semifinal at the French Open.

During the post-match conference, Nadal talked highly about Schwartzman’s performance and admitted that the Argentine defeated one of the best players in the world. Thiem has been the runner-up at the French Open successively for the last two years and even won the US Open last month.

“Of course, is a challenge. When you lost to somebody, is because he’s playing well. Today he played an amazing match against one of the best players of the world, without a doubt, especially on this surface.” said Nadal.

Rafael Nadal a win away from the final

Nadal lost to Schwartzman in the quarterfinals of the Italian Open last month. It was Schwartzman’s first career victory over Nadal and will definitely boost his confidence as he enters the semifinal match. However, Nadal still leads the duo’s head-to-head meetings 9-1.

The defending champion contended that he would have to be more aggressive and play differently than what he did at Rome to improve his chances against Schwartzman. “I’m going to try to go on court, play my best, try to play my game, play aggressive, try to do something a little bit different than what I did in Rome, of course. Hope to be ready to play my best. That’s what I need. I going to give my best until the end,” remarked Nadal.