Rafael Nadal is the top seeded player at the Rio Open and he is into the semifinals after winning over Pablo Cuevas, taking the match in three sets and finishing into the wee hours of the morning, 3:21 am local time to be exact.
Nadal won 4-6, 7-5, 6-0 in his first clay court tournament of the season and he now is through to the semifinals and will matchup with Fabio Fognini on Saturday. Nadal will have less than a day to prepare and it comes after the tournament had five matches on the schedule and they all happened to go three sets. Nadal criticized the timing of the match and also said it was not good for the fans to have to play that late into the night. Nadal is working to get his game in order as he gets closer to the French Open, which he has won a record amount of times in Roland Garros.
Nadal lost the first set and was able to the take the next two and now he has to matchup with Fognini, who has given him problems in the past. David Ferrer is number two in the tournament and he will be in the semifinals as well. For the women, Sara Errani made it into the semis and she will face Johanna Larsson.
Per ESPN: "No tennis tournament should end at this time," he said. "It's tough for the players, but maybe worse for the fans. It very bad on the part of the ATP. It's not the tournament's fault. It was the ATP that didn't want to reschedule a match. If it's a Grand Slam you have a day to rest. It seems like a terrible error to me. It's a big win for me," Nadal said. "I'm in the semifinals. It's a great result and it gives me confidence."
