Lucas Pouille of France ended hopes of Rafael Nadal of US Open title when he scored a stunning, five-set win over 14-time Grand Slam singles champion, winning a climactic tiebreak 8-6 to reach the US Open quarter-finals.
The King of Clay couldn’t do better than just delaying the results as the match went to a five set, when the 22-year-old Pouille displayed poise beyond his age, took charge early and led two sets to one, then rebounded after sagging in the fourth set to win 6-1, 2-6, 6-4, 3-6, 7-6(6) in a four-hour struggle.
In the match, the French showed supreme class in front of the Champion player to prove that his quarter-final advance earlier this season at Wimbledon was no fluke.
Speaking post the match, Pouille said, “It’s my first match on the center court, against Rafa,” after his style of celebrating the great win against the Spaniard. It was a long tussle against Nadal but his forehand winner ended the marathon on his fourth match point.
Adding further in what he believed looked like a dream match, Pouille said, “I couldn’t dream better than this.”
On the other hand, Nadal, who has made an extraordinary comeback from a wrist injury that forced him to retire before his third-round match at Roland Garros and withdraw from Wimbledon, said: “I fight until the end, until the last ball. Was a very close match. I congratulate my opponent, he played with better decisions than me the last couple of points.