MELBOURNE: Rafael Nadal dug deep into his vast reserves of resilience for the ongoing second match to keep his dream of a 21st Grand Slam title alive at the Australian Open on Tuesday, as women’s top seed Ashleigh Barty defeated Madison Keys. against in the semi-finals. ,
Ruthless world number one Barty defeated Jessica Pegula 6-2, 6-0 in 63 minutes to enter the last four at Melbourne Park for only the second time.
“She was solid tonight. I had a lot of fun here,” said Barty, who is close to becoming the first Australian woman to win her domestic Grand Slam since Chris O’Neill in 1978.
She will face unseeded Keys for a place in the final on Saturday when the 51st-ranked American beat French Open champion Barbora Krejcikova 6-3, 6-2.
Wimbledon champion Barty has just one set to lose and only 17 of her five matches at Melbourne Park.
Nadal, 35, took the lead in a two-set quarterfinal against Denis Shapovalov, but then began to feel unwell, needed medical attention for a stomach complaint, and went on to 6-3, 6- in a thrilling four-hour clash. 4, 4-6 saved. 3-6, 6-3.
The seventh seed from Italy defeated France’s Gael Monfils 6-4, 6-4, 3-6, 3-6, 6-2.
The Spanish sixth seed had to first show all her experience and perseverance to reach the quarterfinals in an epic fourth-round 28-minute tiebreak against Adrian Mannarino, and she somehow found the will to cross the finish line again, Despite being badly interrupted.
“I didn’t feel great in my stomach so I just asked if they could do anything,” Nadal said.
“He just checked that everything was fine and then I took some pills to try to rectify the situation. It was fortunate that I was serving brilliantly in the fifth.”
Nadal won the warm-up tournament and continues to amaze himself after being out for most of 2021 due to a chronic leg injury. After this he caught Kovid-19 in December.
“I’m not 21 anymore!” They said.
“The real truth is that two months ago we didn’t know if we would be able to get back on tour,” Nadal admitted.
“It’s just a gift of life that I’m here playing tennis again.”
Frustrated Shapovalov broke his racquet after losing and had a fight with the chair umpire while Nadal was taking service, the official at one point called “corrupt”.
Berrettini later secured a piece of tennis history by becoming the first Italian man to reach the last four of the Australian Open.
Seventh-seeded Monfils, 35, took the first two sets before making a comeback, using all his skill and experience to take the match to the decider.
Berrettini found fresh stores of energy at the start of the fifth set, providing a double break that enabled last year’s Wimbledon finalist to clear and seal the match in 3 hours and 49 minutes.
“I was really happy with myself, it was a great fight with Gayle, a great match, a lot of emotions,” said the 25-year-old.
“I thought I had him in the third set but then I found myself in the fifth.
I fought really hard and I put everything on the court.
Earlier, Keys continued her impeccable start to the 2022 season, with a straight sets destruction from fourth-seeded Krejcikova, who required medical attention after being affected by the heat as the temperature reached 30 Celsius (86 Fahrenheit) during the first set. ) was above.
Keys was a semifinalist in 2015 but endured a terrible 2021 where she moved down the rankings.
“It means a lot,” she said. “Last year was really tough.”
Keys said he had to do a complete reset for the new campaign — and it apparently worked.
He won an Adelaide warm-up event this month and has now won 11 straight matches in Australia – his equalizer for the whole of 2021.
“Wow, it’s gone well so far,” she said. “I’m really proud of myself.”
Published in Dawn, January 26, 2022