2018 French Open: Nadal digs deep to reach 11th semifinal at Roland Garros

Top seed Rafael Nadal dug deep to finally fend off the challenge posed by Argentina’s Diego Schwartzman by wrapping up their rain-delayed quarterfinal match 4-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-2 at Roland Garros on Thursday.

The match, which was carried over from Wednesday due to inclement weather, was delicately poised with Nadal a set down but serving for the second. He was, however, far from his best with an unusually high unforced error count and an opponent who was gaining confidence by the minute with blistering groundstrokes.

As the clouds lifted in Paris on Thursday, so too did Nadal’s demeanour and his game. The weight of the world was no longer on his shoulders with the burden firmly rooted across the net.

The tables had turned with the Argentine unable to produce the tennis that left Nadal shellshocked on Wednesday as well as a large chunk of the tennis world who wondered if Schwartzman could pull off the unthinkable.

He wasn’t able to in the end but his efforts won’t be forgotten anytime soon.

Schwartzman gave Nadal, serving for the match at 5-2 in the fourth set, one last scare but the 16-time Grand Slam champion was able to convert his fourth match point and book his spot in Friday’s semifinals.

It will be Nadal’s 11th semifinal appearance at Roland Garros. He will face the winner of Thursday’s other rain-delayed quarterfinal match between Croatia’s Marin Cilic and Juan Martin del Potro of Argentina.