Nadal edges Blake to continue run
For the first time in four tries, Rafael Nadal defeated James Blake. Nadal had been 0-3 going into his quarterfinal match against the American, but was able to take the match 7-5, 3-6, 6-3. Nadal will now face the third-ranked player in the world, Novak Djokovic in the semifinals. Djokovic easily dispensed of Stanislas Wawrinka 7-6(5), 6-2. This will be a rematch of last year’s final, which was the youngest final in Indian Wells history.
The Nadal/Blake match looked to be Blake’s early on, as he was up 4-1 in the first set. Even the FSN announcers seemed to think Blake was going to win the match, saying that Nadal’s nine match Indian Wells winning streak was in jeopardy. It wasn’t to be though, as Nadal came right back to even the match at 5-5. When Blake was serving at 5-5 he made a very risky decision at break point to stop play for a challenge. It backfired on him and Nadal got the break. The challenge system definitely has its benefits, but at this juncture in the set I wouldn’t have stop played and relied on it giving you the point. Tough call. In the next game, Blake had triple break point to even the match at six all, but Nadal was too much and won five consecutive points to win the opening set.
Blake jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the second set and never looked back, pushing the match to three sets. In the third set, Blake had a break chance in the first game but didn’t convert. Nadal then had a break chance in the second game and did convert. That’s it and that’s all, match over.
You can watch the last eight minutes of the match here:
Leave a Reply