Nadal Beats Goffin For 89th Win At Roland Garros

Rafael Nadal was often at his relentless best against David Goffin on Court Philippe-Chatrier, scene of his 11 Roland Garros triumphs, in a 6-1, 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 victory for a place in fourth round for the 14th time.

Ten years to the day since the tennis world shifted on its axis when Nadal fell to Robin Soderling in the 2009 fourth round, the Spanish superstar improved to an 89-2 record at Roland Garros, the Grand Slam championship he has dominated since his first title in 2005. Three days shy of his 33rd birthday, Nadal will now rest to prepare for a Last 16 clash against Argentine Juan Ignacio Londero or French wild card Corentin Moutet.

Two breaks of serve in each of the first two sets, and no let-up from Nadal on serve and in his groundstroke brilliance were initially too much for a resurgent Goffin, the 2016 quarter-finalist, who had performed well in his opening two wins over Ricardas Berankis and Miomir Kecmanovic at the clay-court major championship.

But at 4-4 in the third set, Goffin raised his game, ripping successive forehand winners — that warranted fist pumps — to gain his first two break point chances on Nadal’s serve at 15/40. The Belgian went for broke, first narrowly missing a forehand return and then striking a third forehand winner to break. Unfazed, Goffin closed out to 15, winning free points on serve. It was only the second set that Nadal had lost since losing to Novak Djokovic in the 2015 quarter-finals.

With half the main show court in shade, Nadal re-gained the momentum, tightening up his serve and being selective in his net approaches, to break in the fourth game of the fourth set.

Since reaching the title match at the 2017 Nitto ATP Finals (l. to Dimitrov), which saw Goffin rise to a career-high No. 7 in the ATP Rankings, the World No. 29 has posted a 40-29 match record. Read 2018 Flashback Feature: David (Goffin) vs. Goliaths

from Tennis - ATP World Tour http://bit.ly/2HR6RJv