Roquebrune-Cap-Martin (France) : Spanish star Rafael Nadal said after his 6-0, 6-2 victory over Dominic Thiem in the Monte-Carlo Masters quarter-finals that he had been sharp in every aspect of the game.
The World No.1 needed just one hour and seven minutes to wrap up his dominating victory over the fifth-seeded Austrian on Friday, reports EFE news agency.
“It has been a great result for me, but it isn’t a normal result. (Dominic’s) one of the best players of the world, especially on clay,” the Spaniard, who is seeking to extend his record haul of Monte Carlo titles to 11, was quoted as saying on the ATP World Tour’s Web site.
“Here, I think I played great. I played so well this afternoon, playing very aggressive in general terms, backhand, forehand, serve. I’m defending well, returning well. It has been a great day for me, and a very good result against a very difficult rival,” the top seed said.
Nadal said though that he expected to see more of Thiem down the road in the 2018 clay-court tennis season, whose main event is the French Open from May 27 to June 10.
“I’m sorry for him, because he’s a good friend. It was a tough score, of course. But I know he is going to be fighting for every title during the clay-court season.”
Nadal will square off on Saturday against fourth-seeded Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov, who reached the semis of this ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event for the first time by defeating David Goffin of Belgium 6-4, 7-6 (7-5).
In their lone match-up at this clay-court tournament in 2013, the Spaniard won a hard-fought 6-2, 2-6, 6-4 victory.
