In Rafael Nadal's words: 'It would be amazing to reach back-to-back Masters..'

At the age of 18, Rafael Nadal was one of the players to beat in the opening months of 2005 season, beating three rivals at the Australian Open and lifting two ATP titles on clay in Brazil and Mexico to move closer to the place in the top-30 ahead of Miami. The Spaniard played well in Florida, becoming the second-youngest Masters 1000 finalist after Michael Chang and hoping to beat Roger Federer for the second straight year at this tournament. Rafa had everything in his hands, standing two points away from straight-sets triumph before Roger bounced back to steal the third set and dominate in the fourth and fifth to win the title and prevent Nadal from writing history.

Switching his focus to clay, Rafa lost in the quarter-final in Vanelcia to Igor Andreev, taking a few days off and making a fresh start in Monte Carlo against Gael Monfils.

After the Frenchman, Nadal toppled two Belgians, Xavier Malisse and Olivier Rochus to advance into the quarters, facing the defending Roland Garros champion Gaston Gaudio. The Argentine had won their first three meetings and Rafa was eager to change that, scoring a dominant 6-3, 6-0 victory in 62 minutes after an incredible performance. Serving at 85%, Nadal lost eight points behind the initial shot, mounting the pressure on the other side of the net and stealing 55% of the return points to earn four breaks from five opportunities and control the pace from start to finish. 

"It was a very complicated and difficult match, regardless of the score. Gaston was a little bit nervous at the start. On the other hand, I learned my lesson from Buenos Aires, where I was the one who rushed things. This time, I was more focused and calmer, waiting for him to start missing and doing everything to cross the finish line first. Little by little, the points were on my side of the court, and the result is here. I'm ranked higher than Gasquet but there will be no favorites and I will have to play at 100% to beat him. If I can win, it would be amazing to play in back-to-back Masters finals. I played against Richard twice and couldn't finish any of those as I got injured. We are both trying to do our best and reach the top but there are other big potentials out there; we all have to work hard to achieve anything."

In the semis, Rafael Nadal would face his coeval Richard Gasquet who defeated Roger Federer in a thriller.

from Tennis World USA https://ift.tt/36Q70Yt