On January 8, Beijing time, the ATP250 Melbourne semi-final competition began, the top seed Nadal played, his opponent is the world's 95th place Rusuvuori. After two fierce sets of matches, Nadal swept his opponent out with a score of 2-0 and returned to the tour after eight months to reach the final.
In the first set, Nadal took the lead in the first set, and in the first set he defused 2 break points to save the serve. Both sides managed to save their serves in the first nine innings, and in the 10th set Nadal made a key break in the opponent's inevitable set to win the first set 6-4.
In the second set, Nadal defused the break point in the 5th set to save the set, and in the 6th set Rusuvuori also saved the break point to save the set. In the 8th set, Nadal broke through the opponent's key set and came to win the game 5-3. Nadal lost the crucial 9th set and Rusuvuori broke to make it 4-5. In the 10th set, Rusuvuuri Olibao was chased to 5-5. In the 11th set, Nadal defused the break point to save his serve, and then he completed the break in the opponent's serve to win the second set 7-5.
In the end, after two sets of competition, the top seed Nadal defeated the world's 95th-ranked Rusuvuori 6-4, 7-5 to reach the final of the tournament. This is the 127th time in his career that Nadal has reached the tour final, and he will be on the verge of a record 19th consecutive championship goal. Nadal's opponent in the final will be Clécy, who broke through from the qualifiers, who eliminated Dimitrov.