Rafael Nadal battles past Ivo Karlovic to move into the semi-finals of BNP Paribas Open
World number 1 Rafael Nadal of Spain defeated world number 239 Ivo Karlovic of Croatia in three thrilling sets 5-7, 6-1, 7-6(7) in the quarterfinal of the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells on Thursday. The Spanish took 2 hours and
23 minutes to oust his opponent in a tough contest.
The opening set went on serve until the eleventh game when Karlovic broke Nadal to take a 6-5 lead and served out the set to win it 7-5.
The big serving Croat fired in 10 aces in the first set. He delivered 57 per cent of the first serves in the opening set, winning 86 per cent of the points on them. The 32-year-old successfully converted the only break point he
received in the first set.
After losing a close first set, Nadal completely dominated the second set, breaking Karlovic’s serve in the second and fourth game to race to a 5-0 lead. However, the Croatian managed to hold his serve at 0-5 and avoided a bagel
set. Nadal held his serve in the seventh game, winning the set 6-1.
Nadal hit 2 aces and 65 per cent of the first serves in the second set. The 24-year-old won 91 per cent of the points on his first serves. He converted 2 of the 7 break points he received in the second set. The Spanish did not
face a single break point in the set.
The final set was a thriller as expected. Both players served remarkably well and held their serves in the first 12 games, taking the set to a tie-break. Nadal lost two match points in the tie-break, one on Karlovic’s serve and
one on his own serve. However, the Spanish capitalised on his third match point and won the tie-break 9-7.
Nadal delivered 57 per cent of the first serves in the deciding set, converting 85 per cent of them into points. Both players served so well that none of them faced a break point in the third set.
The Spaniard will face world number 90 Juan Martin Del Potro of Argentina in the semi-final. This will be the eighth meeting between these two with Nadal leading 4-3 in the head-to-head record.
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