Sorry John McEnroe. But your 22-year-old record of most consecutive match wins on one surface is now history. Rafael Nadal extended his winning streak on clay Saturday to 76 matches in the semifinals of the Rome Masters. He had to earn this win the hard way defeating Nikolay Davydenko 7-6 (3), 6-7 (8), 6-4 in a marathon match that lasted three hours and 38 minutes.
McEnroe had a 75-match winning streak on indoor carpet between September 1983 and April 1985.
“The guy seems like he's unbeatable right now,” McEnroe, who was at the Foro Italico for a seniors tournament, told reporters. “Doesn't he ever have a bad day or a headache once in a while or something? His intensity and quality level is just amazing.”
Nadal said simply: “It's nice to have these records but the important thing for me is to be in the final right now.”
Nadal will meet sixth-ranked Fernando Gonzalez who beat him earlier this year in the quarterfinals of the Australian Open and who wons a 3-1 career record over the world number 2.