David Goffin earned one of the biggest wins of his career to kick-start 2020, beating world No. 1 Rafael Nadal in straight sets at the ATP Cup.
Belgium’s Goffin needed to win the tie to keep his country’s hopes of reaching the semi-finals of the inaugural team competition alive, with Roberto Bautista Agut giving Spain a 1-0 lead after a 6-1 6-4 win over Kimmer Coppejans.
Few would have given Goffin – who will climb back inside the world’s top 10 at the conclusion of this event – a hope of beating Nadal, a man who loves playing for his country, who looked to have picked up where he left off in 2019.
But Goffin, who has won three of his four matches in Sydney, losing only to Great Britain’s Dan Evans, put in one of the most aggressive performances of his career to down the Spaniard 6-4 7-6 (7-3), picking up just his second career-win over Nadal.
‘I felt my tennis the other match against Grigor [Dimitrov, of Bulgaria]… the confidence came back and I was ready for the fight tonight,’ Goffin said in his on-court interview. ‘From the first point until the end it was not easy, I was up a set and a break and I had to hold my nerves until the end.
‘I played a very good tiebreak, some tough games towards the end of the second to hold my serve but at the end I’m so happy for Belgium to have a decisive doubles.
‘I knew Rafa had to take the ball a little bit early, maybe to take some more risks because I was in the court trying to dictate all the time and he had to find a solution. He finds a solution most of the time so I had to stick to my line and continue to move forward.’
Earlier in the day, Serbia booked their spot in the semi-finals, setting up a mouth-watering tie between Novak Djokovic and Daniil Medvedev.
Djokovic, like Nadal, found himself a set down in his singles match to 20-year-old Canadian Denis Shapovalov, but clawed his way back to ensure his country advanced to the final four following Dusan Lajovic’s win over Felix Auger-Aliassime.
Medvedev had sealed his country’s passage to the semi-finals on Thursday, beating Diego Schwartzman of Argentina in an ill-tempered clash.
