A ferocious Rafael Nadal reached his 13th Roland Garros final with a 6-3 6-3 7-6(0) win over Diego Schwartzman.
In an over three hour battle, Nadal managed to move into another Roland Garros Final with a tight straight sets win over Diego Schwartzman.
However the 12-time champion was in for a tough match and the first game of the match backed that theory up.
Some brutal hitting early on from Schwartzman ensured that his recent form would be shown in this match as well.
Two break points were created from the Argentinian but Nadal’s strong patterns of play saved them as the Spaniard held in a 15 minute opening game.
As usual after a long game, Nadal broke fairly quickly in the next game as some strong returns sent a clear message to the Rome finalist.
Although Schwartzman broke straight back, some aggressive angles and shortening of points saw Nadal regain the initiative in this long and gruelling opening set.
There was some aggressive jump-backhands from Schwartzman that saw some success during the contest as he targeted the forehand with the cross-court angle.
However Nadal’s topspin and variation in pace was able to neutralise the points in his favour as he battled to the opening set in 64 minutes 6-3.
The momentum was carried into the second set as some aggressive return positioning meant that Nadal dictated the points early as he pounced on Schwartzman’s predictable serving.
Even though there were occasional moments of brilliance from Schwartzman, the consistency wasn’t there against the powerful and tactically superior Nadal.
In particular the backhand was dominating proceedings especially with the slice being able to change the tempo of the match.
Varying the tactics was the one thing that separated Nadal and Schwartzman and the Argentinian’s predictability was costing him.
Another break at the end of the set sealed a two sets to love lead against a dejected Schwartzman.
It looked like the third set was going to follow a similar pattern with Nadal going a break up twice as he increased the pressure and power on the Argentinian.
However Schwartzman’s ability to never give up mixed with Nadal’s nervousness on easy points and the world number 14 came back into the match.
Schwartzman started to produce some of the form that beat Nadal in Rome as the 12-time champion’s shots lacked the ferociousness of the previous two sets.
The cautious approach nearly cost Nadal but after saving two break points toward the end of the set, the Spaniard dominated the tiebreak to book his place in the final.
A valiant effort from Schwartzman but Nadal at Roland Garros is a different beast as he reaches his 13th Roland Garros final without dropping a set.
Novak Djokovic or Stefanos Tsitsipas has the unenviable task of stopping Nadal from claiming another title in Paris.
