Pouille Conquers Nadal In New York

Lucas Pouille uncorked an unplayable forehand down the line, his 59th winner of the match, to see off No. 4 seed Rafael Nadal 6-1, 2-6, 6-4, 3-6, 7-6(6) in the fourth round of the US Open on Sunday. The 22-year-old Frenchman, who collapsed to the ground after his shot landed just inside the sideline, reached the quarter-finals of a Grand Slam event for the second time in a row, and joined countrymen Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Gael Monfils in the last eight. France had not had a trio of male players reach the quarter-finals of a major tournament since Roland Garros in 1947.

“For me, because I worked very hard, I’m feeling very confident, that’s why I’m here,” Pouille said. “For Jo and Gael it’s the same. They’re unbelievable players. They are at this level for many years now.”

Pouille will face Monfils in the US Open quarter-final and try to reach the last four of a Grand Slam for the first time. “He’s in very good form. He has won so many matches for the last two months. He’s very confident. He hasn’t lost a set, so I know it’s going to be hard,” Pouille said of Monfils. “But I’m playing well. I have good feelings on the court, so we’ll see. I think it’s going to be a tough match for me, but for him as well. It’s going to be interesting.”

No. 24 seed Pouille lost to Nadal in Monte-Carlo last year in the pair’s lone previous FedEx ATP Head2Head meeting, but the right-hander started the match with no signs of being intimidated by the legendary Spaniard, who won the US Open title in 2010 and 2013. Pouille was a model of controlled aggression from both wings, pushing Nadal deep into the backcourt with angled drives and approaching the net 63 times (38/63). Nadal, too, mustered his best all-court tennis. He fired 52 winners and won 35 of 48 trips to the net.

Four hours of play decided nothing, so the outcome needed to be decided by the first fifth-set tie-break played on Arthur Ashe Stadium this fortnight. Pouille, who played 19 out of a possible 20 sets this week, showed signs of mental fatigue, dumping a mid-court forehand into the net on the opening point.

However, the rising star righted the ship and was soon up 6/3. On the brink of losing, Nadal showed his resilience by winning the next three points, but also missed a short forehand put-away at 6/6, a shot he has made a living dispatching.

“A big mistake, yeah. But you are six-all in the tiebreak. I played the right point. I put [myself] in a position to have the winner and I had the mistake,” Nadal said. “The problem is arriving to six-all on the tiebreak of the fifth. I should be winning before.”

The rare misstep from Nadal allowed Pouille to put the finishing touch on a remarkable victory. Pouille has now won three consecutive five-set matches, and is No. 5 in the Under Pressure Leaders category of the ATP Stats Leaderboards, powered by the Infosys Information Platform.

“I think because mentally I’m stronger, physically I’m stronger, [that] gave me a lot of confidence before the match,” Pouille said. “I knew if I wanted to win that, it’s not going to be like three sets, 6-1, 6-2, 6-2. It would be long. So I was ready for it.”