RAFAEL Nadal has surged into the ATP Paris Masters 1000 semi-finals following a come-from-behind win over ninth seed Pablo Carreno Busta. In a battle of the two Spaniards, Carreno Busta needed to win to keep his ATP Finals hopes alive, and looked good early by winning the first set. Nadal rallied as he always does, and won eight of the last nine games to come away with the 4-6 7-5 6-1 win in two hours and 14 minutes.

Nadal served seven aces to four, and won 81 per cent of his first serve points, as well as 63 per cent of his second serve points. It far eclipsed his compatriot who finished with 68 and 46 respectively, though Carreno Busta had the higher serving efficiency (74 to 62 per cent) and broke Nadal in the first set. Nadal broke three times in the last eight games after not breaking prior to that, setting himself up for a memorable win to advance through to the semi-finals.

“I have to give him a lot of credit that he did a lot of things very well, played very aggressively,” Nadal said post-match. “I need to return better. My serve is working well, I think, so the rest of the game more or less I am playing better and better. I need to return better if I want to have chances to keep going.”

The only person more relieved than Nadal to win the match was Diego Schwartzman who officially booked his ticket at his first ATP Finals. The Argentinian was outplayed by third seed Russian Daniil Medvedev in straight sets. Schwartzman just needed to win to book his ticket in the end-of-year invite-only event, whilst Carreno Busta had to go all the way in Paris. Schwartzman faced a nervous wait after his 6-3 6-1 loss to Medvedev, but would have been relieved when the world number two defeated Carreno Busta.

Medvedev is starting to find form again after an impressive last two sets against Alex de Minaur, and then a straight sets win against an in-form Schwartzman. Medvedev produced eight aces and only dropped a ridiculous one point off his first serve, and five in total off his serve, two of which were double faults. He broke Schwartzman four times from six chances in a match that lasted just 63 minutes.

“It was a good match,” Medvedev said post-match. “I kept my level high and he made some errors, which gave me control of the match. “It didn’t feel like a short match, as there are always rallies with Diego. “I’m happy to have won quickly today. I’m pleased to have gone deep in Paris, as it will help for the [Nitto ATP Finals] in London. “I produced some good tennis today.”

Medvedev will not take on Milos Raonic who powered his way into the semi-finals against similar big server Ugo Humbert. The Canadian looked unbelievable at times on serve, hitting a whopping 25 aces in two hours and 18 minutes, but being pushed all the way by Humbert, but eventually won 6-3 3-6 7-6. Both players only broke once which was Raonic’s broken serve for the tournament, and it led to a nail-bitting deciding tiebreaker.

Humbert had two match points in that tiebreaker, but Raonic lifted and managed to hold on after a massive rally to win 9-7 in that tiebreaker and advance through to the semi-finals.

“I wouldn’t necessarily say that that match point is the way I want to be playing too many points that I saved in that long rally,” Raonic said post-match. “But I just tried to stick with it as much as possible, tried to find a way through and got a bit fortunate, hit a few balls close to the line. “Today it turned my way, but I’ve just got to keep plugging away. “Doesn’t necessarily mean it always will, but at least give it a chance for it to turn around.”

In the final match of the day, in-form German Alexander Zverev extended his winning streak to 11 following back-to-back titles at Cologne, defeating Stan Wawrinka in straight sets. Zverev won 6-3 7-6 coming back from a break down in the second set to post a victory in an hour and 26 minutes. The German served eight aces to two, and at a much higher clip of 74 to 55 per cent, whilst breaking four times to two overall. Neither player stood up on their second serve, but it was Zverev’s taken chances that were the difference for him to move through and face Nadal in the semi-finals.

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