Nadal “naughty” out! Al-Ittihad newspaper

Paris (AFP)

World number four Rafael Nadal of Spain continued his unbeaten run in 2022 by defeating Australian “naughty” Kyrgios “132” 7-6, 5-7, 6-4. Indian Wells tournament, International Masters thousand points in tennis.
After winning the Australian Open and becoming the record holder for the number of Grand Slam titles in January, Nadal has increased his number of consecutive wins to 19 since the beginning of this year.
Nadal, who is seeking his fourth title in California, advanced to the semifinals with his teammate Carlos Alcarus, who won the twelfth title with a 6-4, 6-3 victory over Britain’s Cameron Norie.
Alcஸ்raz, who was crowned at the Rio de Janeiro in February, became the second young player to reach the Indian Wells semifinals at the age of 18, after the American Andre Agassi set the record in 1988 at the age of 17.
“I felt lucky to win the first set because I was able to retreat 4-5 against Kyrgios, so the chances of winning this set were about 10 percent or less. It happened, and I played good balls.” Natal said.
“Kyrgios is undoubtedly one of the most talented players. When he plays with great motivation and enthusiasm, he is one of the players who can do a lot of damage to your style of play and win against any other player.”
It took Nadal two hours and 48 minutes to knock his rising opponent out of the qualifying round in a match, when, unlike his habit, he made several direct mistakes, including 7 double errors, while Kyrgios hit “El Matador” during transfers.
In the first set, Kyrgios broke the Spaniard’s serve to make it 2-1, the latter saluted him and tied the score at 5-5, and crushed him 7-0 at the tiebreak, while Kyrgios angrily smashed his racket. Ground, verbally insulting a fan. , Prompted the referee to punish him with a point that would determine the team.
Kyrgios, who returned to shine on the yellow ball field in 2020 due to the corona virus, dropped his position in 2021 and, true to his reputation as one of the most talented and rogue players, was able to settle for a second set. In favor of him, after breaking the opponent’s service.
In the third set Nadal raised his position, while Kyrgios continued his angry performance, and as the Spaniard broke his serve and advanced to 4-3, he went to the referee with obscene words and asked to control the noisy crowd. Exchanges.
Nadal did not wait long to punish the Australian, so he overcame the third set 6-4, thus becoming Nadal’s sixth win in 9 encounters with Kyrgios, and Nadal, 35, facing his teammate Alcarus. Considered by many to be his successor.
Commenting on following in the footsteps of Agassi, Alcஸ்raz said, “It is a pleasure to go this route in the history of this competition.”
He went on to say of the match that he associated himself with Noori, “Now I can not find the words to describe my feeling.”
Alcares dropped service twice at the start of the first set, but won the last three games.
The same scene was repeated with a loss of service in the second set, before which he broke Britain’s serve three times to win the set and win the match.
“I would be happy to lose this match, but now I’m eager to play better against Rafa,” Alcares, who lost to Natalie 1-6 and 2-6 in Madrid last year.
And Alcarus advanced to the quarterfinals at the US Open last year.
In the women’s event, Spain’s Paula Baduza, the seventh and current world champion, and sixth-seeded Maria Zachary advanced to the semifinals, beating 24-year-old Russian Veronica Codermidova, who competed under the neutral flag. , 6-3, 6-2, and Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan 7-5. He fell 6-4 in the 2nd game.
Padusha, 24, is looking forward to a second title this season after his fourth win at the Sydney Games and his career last January, and he was able to beat the Russian for the first time in their fourth encounter.
“I made the same mistakes against her again. I just wanted it not to happen this time. I served well and was more aggressive,” Padusha said after the win.
According to the 26-year-old Zachary, he is looking for his second title only at the professional level after his first title at the 2019 Rafah tournament.
After an hour and 40 minutes of competition, he said, “I’m very happy with the way I played today.” There were moments when the competition was very intense and tense, but I was able to deal with it mentally.
Last year, the Greek reached the semifinals of two major tournaments, Roland Keros and the Flashing Meadows, and was one of the top ten finishers at the Grand Slam for the first time at the Australian Open earlier this year, exiting the fourth. Round, and he meets Romania’s Simona Halep with Poland’s Iga Svientic in the other semifinal.