Bob Larson's Daily Tennis News
August 14, 2024

It's a good thing hardly anyone left at Sopot was playing at the Olympics. They'd be too tired to play, even if they managed to catch a plane on time.

Friday's quarterfinals were all rained out, leaving everyone to play two matches on Saturday.

That of course produced the usual mad rush to get through first and with as little effort as possible.

The clear winners in that department were the Spaniards: #6 seed Rafael Nadal, the only seed left in the draw, took out qualifier Franco Squillari 6-3 6-4. That set him up for a match with countryman Felix Mantilla, who was the only qualifier to make the semifinal as he beat Adrian Garcia 6-3 6-3.

The other half also produced a semifinal between countrymen -- in this case, Argentines. Tired Argentines. Jose Acasuso, who won this event in 2002 and didn't play last year, ran his Sopot winning streak to eight with a 3-6 6-3 6-2 win over qualifier Jiri Vanek. But that was nothing to what Juan Monaco went through; he saved two match points as he edged Marc Lopez in a third set tiebreak after Lopez failed to serve out a 5-3 lead. The match took two hours and 22 minutes. On clay. On wet, sticky clay in windy conditions. With a second match still to play.

And, based on the results, it did cost him: Monaco lost to Acasuso 6-4 6-2. Even so, Monaco, #99 coming in, should gain about a dozen ranking spots. #105 Acasuso should move a bit above #80.

Nadal's success in singles didn't translate into doubles. In his third match of the day, he and Alberto Martin lost 7-5 7-6 to #4 seeds Garcia and Prieto, who will face #1 Cermak and Friedl in the final.

**Men's Match of the Day

Sopot - Semifinal

Rafael Nadal (6) def. Felix Mantilla (Q) 7-5 6-1

Could this be the week Rafael Nadal finally picks up that first career singles title?

He's certainly going to be in an advantageous position. He was the first player through to the final, and he was through fast -- only four sets to reach the final, and only 36 games played (though he did play a longish doubles match). His potential opponents had had to play nearly that many on Saturday just to get to the semifinal!

And, of course, he's much the higher-ranked finalist.

In one sense, this is bad news for Nadal, since he'll arrive very late at the Olympics, and tired. Not good, considering that he has been so worried about his foot that he's talking about skipping the U. S. Open! But it's also an opportunity he may not see for a while. His injury had caused his ranking to roughly double; he came here having fallen all the way to #71. Reaching the final should gain him about 15 places. A win would put him right about at #50.

This is pretty good news for Mantilla, too. After reaching the Roland Garros fourth round in 2003, he went on to lose his next seven matches; he didn't earn another win until Madrid! He came here with his ranking all the way down at #110, but with lots of room to improve. He gains about 20 places and is finally back in the Top 100.