Target ang unang titulo ngayong season at ika-70 sa kabuuan ng career, nahila ng 30-anyos Spaniard ang Mexican Open winning streak sa 14 match at 28 set. Napagwagihan niya ang torneo noong 2005 at 2013 kung saan nilaro pa ito sa clay court.
Makakaharap niya si American Sam Querrey, nagwagi kay Nick Kyrgios ng Australia, 3-6, 6-1, 7-5.
Ito ang unang sabak sa aksiyon ng second-seeded na si Nadal mula nang matalo kay Roger Federer sa Australian Open final nitong Enero.
“You need to have a great day to get a result like this against Cilic,” pahayag ni Nadal.
“Anytime you play against someone like Cilic you expect to suffer in a tight match, but it was not like that. I believe that he had his chances, but I played a good game”.
Kahanga-hanga ang kampanya ni Querrey sa torneo matapos gapiin ang matitikas na sina Belgian David Goffin, Dominic Thiem at Kyrgios, tumalo kay Novak Djokovic nitong Huwebes.
“It does not get any easier tomorrow, it will be the toughest test,” sambit ni Querrey. “I played great today, but I need to play even better tomorrow to beat Nadal”.
Puntirya ng American ang ikasiyam na titulo at una mula nang manalo sa Delray Beach noong 2016. Sadsad siya sa 0-4 sa head-to-head duel kay Nadal.
Sa women’s semifinal, ginapi ni second-seed Kristina Mladenovic ng France si American Christina McHale 7-5, 4-6, 6-2, habang umusad si Ukraine’s Lesiia Tsurenko matapos patalsikin si top-seeded Mirjana Lucic-Baroni ng Croatia via withdraw, 5-0 .
