‘Little bit of a miracle’
Nadal recovers, pulls out 5-set quarterfinal victory
MELBOURNE, Australia — With another Australian Open semifinal spot secured after a four-hour, five-set victory, Rafael Nadal looked toward his support team in Rod Laver Arena and nodded his head.
It was like he was just confirming the plan: Five wins down, two to go in his bid for a men’s record 21st major title.
On the other side of the net, 14th-seeded Denis Shapovalov broke his racket on the hard blue court after a frustrating 6-3, 6-4, 4-6, 3-6, 6-3 loss to Nadal, who later acknowledged he felt “destroyed” physically on a hot Tuesday afternoon.
There were plenty of momentum-shifting moments, including Nadal needing attention for a stomach ailment in the third and fourth sets after dominating the first two.
Shapovalov openly complained to chair umpire Carlos Bernardes during the quarterfinal match about Nadal getting longer breaks than players usually are entitled to, and taking too long between points.
He took a few shots at Nadal in his post-match news conference, too, saying he’s “100%” convinced the 35-year-old Spaniard receives special treatment.
At a tournament where he’s clinched the title only once (2009) and had lost seven of his previous 13 quarterfinals — by far his worst conversion rate at any of the four major tournaments — Nadal looked vulnerable in the third and fourth sets.
But following a seven-minute break — when Nadal left the court and went to the locker room — between the last point of the fourth set and his first serve in the fifth, he recovered sufficiently to save a break point with an ace, hold serve and then break Shapovalov for a 2-0 lead.
“I don’t know, was a little bit of a miracle,” Nadal said of his revival. “I was destroyed honestly physically. But my serve worked well, and for me, every game that I was winning with my serve was a victory, no?”
He rejected any assertion that he gets any special treatment from umpires or referees, and added that Shapovalov was young and said he would get over it.
Nadal shares the men’s record of 20 major singles titles with Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic, and he’s got an inside run with the absence of his longtime rivals at Melbourne Park.
Nadal will get two days off before Friday’s semifinal match against Matteo Berrettini.
The Wimbledon runner-up, who became the first Italian man to reach the Australian Open semifinals, held on to beat No. 17 Gael Monfils 6-4, 6-4, 3-6, 3-6, 6-2.
The women’s quarterfinals were both over in straight sets, with 2017 U.S. Open runner-up Madison Keys beating French Open champion Barbora Krejcikova 6-3, 6-2 in the Day 9 opener on Rod Laver Arena and top-ranked Ash Barty advancing with a 6-2, 6-0 win over No. 21 Jessica Pegula.