Rafael Nadal will be looking to take another step closer to his 10th Italian Open title on Saturday afternoon. It will be the first meeting between Rafa and 6’11” American Reillly Opelka. The World No. 47 is yet to drop a set this week and has struck 77 aces, compared to just four double faults, across his four wins in the Italian capital.
Date: May 15, 2021
Match time: Not before 1 PM local time / 7 AM EDT – New York, Montreal / noon BST – United Kingdom / 1 PM CEST – Spain, France, Germany, Italy / 9 PM AEST – Melbourne. To convert to your local time, use this website.
Rafa on playing Reilly:
“Reilly is a very tough opponent to play. Super difficult. He has a huge, huge serve. I need to be very focused with my serve and try to give myself some chances on the return… He’s able to play aggressive from the baseline too, so I need to play well. It is going to be a tough one, of course, but it is the semi-finals of a Masters 1000, what can you expect?”
GOOD LUCK & VAMOS RAFA!
Opelka’s serve will be challenging for sure but Rafa knows what to do with players that are extremely tall. Make him play your game… Run him back and forth… Plenty of net and drop shots…. John Isner is 6’10’ and in 8 H2H Rafa has won 7 of 8 …
Good luck today Rafa…. . Go get him!!!
VAMOS RAFA!!!
Good Luck dear Rafa…. Big challenge margo but he has tricks to do it… vamos Rafa
Sorry my bad wanted to write your name marileena but it’s always Margo comes up
Some interesting challenges to figure out!! You are best at doing that. Vamos, man!!
Oh dear! How does a player (even one as great as Rafa) return a serve from someone who is 6’11? If Opelka serves well it will be very tough for Rafa to break him; which means that Rafa can’t afford to be broken himself! Let’s hope that Opelka does not hit his spots today. Fingers crossed for Rafa.
Very happy Rafa won! He played better than yesterday but still nowhere near his best. Is still inconsistent and serve needs more work.
The win was tougher than what the scores indicate. Hope you keep improving from here on.
Wish you all the best for tomorrow’s match. Be aggressive and dictate with your play.
VAMOS
Cmon!
J’espère que Le Serbe va gagner car Rafa travaillerait moins fort que jouer contre le grec.
Good luck and Vamos Rafa❤️
Rafa I watch you play today it was amazing this time you play very good vamossssssssss champ you can do it all the way to the finals 💪💪💪👍👍👍❤️🎾🎾🎾💪👍❤️
Tough opponent, just play your best tennis Rafa.❤️
Good luck🍀💪
Not before 1pm local time…it was for at 10.a.m but with all matches stopped due rain….they must play first. He is scheduled to play centre court.
The two quarters unfinished will play first at 11am local time, 5am edt. One on center and one on the grandstand. The winners will play later, not before 6:30pm local, I believe.