Continuing his impressive performance in Montreal, Brandon Nakashima dominated Luciano Darderi 6-2, 6-3 in a quarterfinal match on Tuesday at the National Bank Open to advance to his first Masters 1000 semifinal.
The 25-year-old Nakashima, the No. 28 seed, lost just one service game while serving up 11 aces against the 19th-seeded Italian. That earned a spot in Wednesday’s semifinals against Spanish teenager Rafael Jodar, who also won in straight sets. The No. 20 seed handled No. 18 seed Arthur Fils of France 7-6 (5), 6-3.
“Super happy with making my first semifinal,” said Nakashima, who won 83.3% of the first serves he landed. “It was a goal of mine at the beginning of the year to try to do well at one of these Masters 1000s tournaments. So, to be able to do it for the first time here is really special.”
Nakashima, a San Diego native who played one season at the University of Virginia before turning pro, did not give Darderi much of a chance. He forced his Italian foe to commit 28 unforced errors and six double faults while collecting only 11 winners. By contrast, Nakashima totaled 16 unforced errors, one double fault and 26 winners. He also saved all four break points and converted 3 of his 8 break-point chances.
Advancing to his fifth tour level semifinal after Brisbane, Acapulco, Queen’s Club and Washington, Nakashima is poised to reach a career-high ranking and could move inside the top 25 with a semifinal victory.
His next opponent, the 19-year-old Jodar, also reached his first Masters 1000 semifinal and would move up to No. 11 in the ATP rankings with a win over Nakashima.
“He’s a good friend of mine,” Nakashima said. “So it’s been amazing to see his rise to the top and becoming one of the best players in the world right now.”
At the beginning of a hard-fought second set, Jodar and FIls held serve before breaking each other’s serve. Fils held serve to take a 3-2 lead before Jodar pulled even and broke Fils for a 4-3 advantage. After Jodar built a 5-3 lead, Fils saved three match points on his serve, but the Spanish teen eventually broke Fils after four deuces to close the match.
While Fils served seven aces to three for Jodar, the rookie had the edge in winners (20-18) and converted four of 12 break points compared to Fils’ 2 of 4.
Jodar, who beat Fils in the third round two weeks ago at Washington, has been on a remarkable run. He has won 29 of his last 35 matches after beginning the year at No. 168 in the ATP rankings. Though he doesn’t turn 20 until next month, he secured his first tour title at Marrakech and also reached the final at Washington.
The other half of the bracket will feature an all-U.S. semifinal after fifth-seeded Ben Shelton and 12th-seeded Learner Tien both won in straight sets on Tuesday.
Shelton downed 13th-seeded Czech Jakub Mensik 6-3, 6-1, winning 89% of his first-serve points.
Tien topped Spain’s Daniel Merida Aguilar 6-3, 6-2. While Tien was just plus-1 on winners, Merida committed 32 unforced errors to Tien’s 17.
Tien owns a 2-0 career record against Shelton, having won this year in the round of 32 at Indian Wells, Calif., and last year in the round of 16 at Mallorca, Spain.
–Field Level Media
