Rafael Nadal endured his most serious test of the young clay-court season on Friday at the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell. But the Spaniard fought through – coming back from a break down in the second set – to reach his 11^th Barcelona semi-final (11-1 in QF).

The No. 1 player in the ATP Rankings extended his clay-court sets win streak to 42 and his clay-court match-wins streak to 17 against Martin Klizan of Slovakia. Nadal saved three set points in the second set and ousted the left-hander 6-0, 7-5 on Pista Rafa Nadal.

The 31-year-old Spaniard, with a chance to play for his 11^th Barcelona title on the line, will next face fourth seed David Goffin, who beat Spaniard Roberto Bautista Agut 6-7(3), 6-2, 6-2. Goffin has come back from a set down in all three of his matches this week in Barcelona. Nadal leads their FedEx ATP Head2Head series 2-1, but Goffin won their most-recent contest at the 2017 Nitto ATP Finals.

Read More: Goffin Stuns Rafa In London

Nadal dominated the opener against Klizan, breaking the left-hander three times and dropping only four points on serve (12/16). The Spaniard was racing all over the court and attacking the Slovakian, who had beaten Novak Djokovic and Feliciano Lopez of Spain to make the quarter-finals.

But in the second set, Klizan, a three-time clay-court titlist, found his form, breaking to start and mixing in drop shots against Nadal. At 5-4, Klizan had the set on his racquet.

That alone marked an accomplishment: Not since the 2017 Rome quarter-finals last May, when Dominic Thiem beat Nadal 6-4, 6-3, had someone won so many games against Nadal during a set on clay.

But Klizan couldn’t force a decider. Three set points came and went, and Nadal delivered a series of fist pumps and shouts after Klizan lifted a forehand wide on break point. The Spaniard raced through the final two games, prolonging his streaks and his stay in Barcelona.

Marco Cecchinato pumped his right fist in celebration after hitting a smash winner to wrap up a 5-7, 6-4, 6-2 victory over seventh-seeded German Jan-Lennard Struff on Friday at the Gazprom Hungarian Open. The Italian lucky loser is through to his first ATP World Tour semi-final, where he’ll face eighth seed Andreas Seppi of Italy or Georgia’s Nikoloz Basilashvili.

Is Rafael Nadal elevating his game to another level at 31 years of age?

Our eyes see it, his opponents feel it, and yes, the stats sheet confirms it as well. The golden age of Rafa is happening right here, right now.

An Infosys ATP Beyond The Numbers analysis of Nadal’s record-setting 11 titles at the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters identifies that the Spaniard has only once (2010) won a higher percentage of total points to take the title than he did this year.

Nadal won 60.9 per cent (298/489) of total points in five matches last week, which is the second highest of any of his 11 victorious campaigns in the Principality. It was more than three percentage points higher than his total points won average of 58.3 per cent (3885/6668) in winning 11 titles, beginning back in 2005.

Nadal has won 54 per cent of total points on all surfaces throughout his career, and 56 per cent lifetime on clay. To be at 61 per cent last week clearly identifies how dominant his game is at the moment.

Rafael Nadal 11 Titles In Monte-Carlo: Total Points Won

Second-Serve Points Won
Nadal’s major area of influence in Monte-Carlo last week was his second serve. He won 67.5 per cent (52/77) of his second-serve points. That’s his highest win percentage in this specific metric he’s ever recorded en route to winning a Monte-Carlo title.

Returning Serve
It’s hard to fathom that Nadal could possibly make the opponent’s serve a weakness, but that’s exactly what he regularly does in Monte-Carlo. Nadal won 50.8 per cent (129/254) of his return points last week, meaning that he won more points returning in opponents’ service games than the server did.

Watch Highlights: Nadal Wins 11th Monte-Carlo Crown

In the 11 times Nadal has won in Monte-Carlo, he has averaged winning 51.5 per cent of return points, with the highest in 2010, when he won 58.8 per cent (133/266). Serving against Rafa is not an advantage on clay in Monaco.

Consecutive Clay-Court Sets Won
With Nadal’s 6-1, 6-3 victory on Thursday in Barcelona against Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, Nadal extended his Open Era record to 40 consecutive sets won on clay. Monte-Carlo last week accounted for 10 of those, with only one set out of the 10 reaching 6-4.

Everything is on fire at the moment for the Spaniard as a new clay-court season kicks off. Opponents are having trouble winning games, let alone sets or matches. The all-time great is asserting his dominance like never before.

Aussie great and former No. 1 Lleyton Hewitt will make another return to the ATP World Tour this month.

Hewitt and #NextGenATP Aussie Alex de Minaur, whom Hewitt helps coach, will play doubles at the Millennium Estoril Open, which starts Monday. It’s the third time Hewitt has come out of retirement to play doubles since he retired from tennis after the 2016 Australian Open.

He played doubles with John Peers during a Davis Cup World Group tie in March 2016. Hewitt also played doubles at 2016 Wimbledon, with compatriot Jordan Thompson, and at 2018 Australian Open, when he joined countryman Sam Groth during his final tournament.

Read More: Aussie Groth Shares His Career Highlights

The 19-year-old de Minaur will look to kickstart his tour-level clay-court season. The 5’11” right-hander reached the final of the Ferrero Challenger Open, an ATP Challenger Tour event in Alicante, Spain, earlier this month (l. to Andujar).