MADRID (Reuters) – Rafael Nadal fired hosts Spain into the Davis Cup final as he joined Feliciano Lopez to win a thrilling late-night doubles and seal a nail-biting 2-1 victory over Britain yesterday.
The world number one, playing like a man possessed, sent a capacity crowd in the Magic Box wild as he almost single-handedly hauled his country home and set up a final with Canada in the inaugural edition of the revamped competition today.
With the semi-final on a knife edge at 1-1 after the singles were shared, Nadal and veteran Lopez came through a scintillating doubles clash against Jamie Murray and Neal Skupski, winning 7-6(3) 7-6(8) to take five-time winners Spain into their first Davis Cup final since 2012.
Just as on the previous night against Argentina in the quarter-finals, Nadal first had to win his singles to drag his team level after Lopez was outplayed 6-3 7-6 by Kyle Edmund.
Nadal completed that task with a 6-4 6-0 win over Dan Evans, which extended his incredible run of Davis Cup singles wins to 28 since 2004, and, just like 24 hours earlier, bounded back on court around half an hour later for a doubles decider.
In a match of gut-wrenching tension played in front of a noisy soccer-style crowd in the 12,500-seater stadium, Nadal, 33, and Lopez, 38, squeezed out the first set on a tiebreak in which every single point felt like a drama.
With the clock ticking well past midnight yet again, the inspired British pair kept their noses in front on serve in the second set and when Lopez made a horrible mess of a smash on the Nadal serve at 5-6 they had a set point.
Nadal saved that one with a nerveless forehand winner down the line but there was more trouble for Spain in the tiebreak.
Britain led 6-4 but Lopez saved the first set point with a big serve and then Nadal produced miracles to flick a lob over Murray before putting away a smash as the Scot replied with a lob.
It felt like Nadal was tackling Britain on his own as he saved a fourth set point with a monstrous forehand that whistled past Murray.
Spain then had a match point which Nadal miscued, but when Skupski bunted a volley long it meant Lopez had a service point to seal it, and he delivered.
DRAMATIC COMPETITION
“Rafa Rafa” the crowd chanted as they saluted their hero and he will need them behind him again in today’s climax against Canada at the end of an exhausting week.
“This competition is dramatic and with this new format even more,” Nadal said on court. “It was very close. We played a great match. In the important moments Feli did everything well.
“We are super happy. I just want to say thank you very much to the team and to the crowd.”
Lopez was close to tears at the end and who could blame him after the tension of two dramatic hours.
“A very special moment, a unique opportunity and we are very pleased we somehow managed to win it,” Lopez said.
“Rafa hit an unbelievable lob when we were down in the break 6-4. We are really happy and have a great opportunity to hold this trophy tomorrow.”
Earlier, Canada’s ‘two-man team’ of Denis Shapovalov and Vasek Pospisil, who have played every rubber for Canada this week, beat Russian duo Andrey Rublev and Karen Khachanov after their semi-final also went down to the wire.
Pospisil’s run of singles wins here came to an end in the opener against Rublev, the Russian winning 6-4 6-4.
Shapovalov levelled the tie when he beat Khachanov 6-4 4-6 6-4 before the Canadian duo edged the doubles 6-3 3-6 7-6(5).
“I don’t think any of us expected that we could get this far,” Shapovalov said. “You have to have a little bit of luck on your side and just play some ridiculous tennis and play at a ridiculous level. It’s dream to be in the final.”
