Rafael Nadal maintained his bid for ‘La Decima’, 10 Roland Garros titles, on Wednesday after a quarter-final victory over fellow Spaniard Pablo Carreno Busta.
Fourth seed Nadal was leading 6-2, 2-0 when No. 20 seed Carreno Busta retired due to abdominal injury after 51 minutes of play. Carreno Busta had received treatment for a stomach muscle complaint at the end of the first set, which had featured six breaks of serve.
Nadal, who celebrated his 31st birthday on Saturday, is now 22-1 on clay this year, which includes three trophies at the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters, the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell and the Mutua Madrid Open. He will next face Dominic Thiem in Friday’s semi-finals.
"I'm playing well, I'm moving ahead," said Nadal. "Thiem is a tough player. I hope that I won't lose. I won in Barcelona and Madrid, but I lost to him in Rome... If I play well, I hope that I will be able to book my spot in the final."
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Despite being broken in the third and seventh games of the 32-minute first set, Nadal dictated his fourth meeting against Carreno Busta. He now leads his compatriot 4-0 in their FedEx ATP Head2Head, including two other victories on clay at the 2015 and 2016 Rio Open presented by Claro.
"I felt the injury when I served at 2-5," said Carreno Busta. "I tried to continue, but I preferred to stop because I felt the pain all the time... During this tournament, maybe when I finished my first-round match, I felt a little bit tight. But after that, I didn't feel it again. I don't know why it happened, but sometimes when you are trying 100 per cent, you can do this."
Carreno Busta will move to a career-high in the Top 20 of the Emirates ATP Rankings when the new list is published on Monday. This year’s Millennium Estoril Open titlist is now 20-8 on clay this year.
Go inside the tournament at RolandGarros.com.
