On January 8, Beijing time, ATP Melbourne station semifinals, the top seed Nadal defeated Finnish young man Rusuwari 6-4, 7-5, and returned to the final. In his career, Nadal reached the men's singles final for the 126th time, and will hit his 89th personal title! After the game, Nadal was very happy, he threw his fists and roared, and Nadal was satisfied with his form.
After a gap of five months, Nadal competed again, his last appearance was last August, and since then, Nadal has missed the entire 2021 season in order to concentrate on treating his foot injury.
With the 2022 season coming, Nadal is in remarkable shape. Facing Finnish rising star Rusuvori, Nadal won 2-0, 6-4, 7-5 in two sets!
At the moment of victory, Nadal was very excited, he raised his arms and cheered, then threw his fists and roared, shouting, "Come on!" At the scene, the Spanish flag flew and Nadal received cheers. Of course, the opponent loses convincingly. Nadal thanked the fans, even if it is not a Grand Slam event, but Nadal is still very happy to advance to the final.
In another semi-final, world No. 112 qualifier Klesi defeated Dimitrov 7-5, 7-6 (9) to reach the first tour men's singles final of his career. That is to say, facing the dark horse, Nadal has a great chance of winning the championship, of course, the opponent is also in good shape, and Nadal cannot ignore the opponent.
The last time Nadal lifted a cup on the hard court was in Acapulco in the 2020 season, can he break the hard court championship drought of nearly 2 years? Previously, in the hard court final, Nadal's record was 22 wins and 26 losses. In the last 125 singles finals, Nadal has a record of 88 wins and 37 losses.
If you win the championship in this competition, it will greatly enhance Nadal's confidence, and the upcoming Australian Open event is Nadal's real goal. If Djokovic is unable to compete, Nadal will have fewer strongest opponents to compete for the title. At present, as the 9th champion of the Australian Open, the possibility of participating in the Australian Open is very small, and the world's first may be repatriated to Europe.