Top journalist opens up on Rafael Nadal

• Tennis News
• Rafael Nadal

Rafael Nadal reached the final of the inaugural Shanghai Masters 1000 in 2009, losing to Nikolay Davydenko. The Spaniard suffered early losses in Shanghai in 2010 and 2011, skipping the event in 2012 and reaching the semi-final a year later.

Nadal got rid of Alexandr Dolgopolov, Carlos Berlocq and Stan Wawrinka to set up the semi-final clash against Juan Martin del Potro. It was his twelfth meeting, and the Argentine achieved his fourth victory over the Spaniard, beating Rafa 6-2, 6-4 in one hour and 46 minutes.

Del Potro beat Philipp Kohlschreiber in the opener and dispatched Nicolás Almagro in the quarters for Nadal to meet, beating the No. 2 seed for the first time after three straight wins in 2009. Del Potro served at 80% and rejected the six break chances he had to put pressure on Nadal.

The Argentine made three breaks from 11 chances and secured a spot in his third Masters 1000 final and second of the season. The Argentine controlled the rallies with more winners and unforced errors, outscoring his higher-ranked opponent in crucial moments to seal the deal in straight sets.

Nadal suffered a break in the first game of the match when his forehand found the net. He rallied and created a break chance in the second game which del Potro parried with a forehand winner to cement the lead and open a 2-0 gap.

Rafa fended off three break chances with winners in the third game. Juan Martin hit a right cross in the fourth game that forced his rival to make an error and put him up 3-0. Nadal conceded a setback in game four to fall 4-0 down.

Steve Flink on Federer and Nadal

American sports journalist and historian Steve Flink shed light on the uniqueness of the rivalry between Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal. "There were some difficult moments inevitable like the 2006 Italian Open final where Roger felt like Toni Nadal was talking too much.

But they got past those moments so easily and swiftly," said Flink. "I think their respect for competing for the most prestigious prizes. When you play three straight French Open finals and those same years you are playing the Wimbledon finals, there was never anything like it.

How can you not respect each other as each guy is good enough to reach the finals on the other guy's surface. So i think in some ways it was cemented at that time, the immense mutual respect they have for each other" he stated.