On January 25, Beijing time, the Australian Open men's singles 1/4 final, Nadal fought hard in 5 sets, with a big score 3-2 narrowly defeated Canadian nova Shapovalov to advance to the top 4, this is Nadal following 2019, after 3 years, the Australian Open men's singles top 4, next, Nadal will strongly impact the 21st Grand Slam crown and double-lap Grand Slam 2 miracles!
In the first set, Nadal broke in the fourth set to make it 6-3 and Nadal won the first set. During break, Shapovalov complained to the referee about Nadal's long serve.
In the second set, Nadal grabbed the opening and took the lead in breaking, quickly laying the advantage. The set was 6-4 and Nadal won another set to take a 2-0 lead.
In the first two sets, The Canadian nova Shapovalov, born in 1999, was still too anxious, always thinking that he could kill Nadal with a few beats, but how easy was it to face Nadal, the god of war? Even the world's number one Djokovic was able to defeat Nadal through a long tug-of-war, and it was clear that Shapovalov's pre-match technical and tactical deployment was wrong, and the faster you beat Nadal, the faster you lost.
It only took an hour for Nadal to play 6-3, 6-4 in two consecutive cities, playing more easily. Subsequently, Shapovalov changed a jersey, adjusted his mentality, no longer blindly rushed to success, and began to sink his heart into a tug-of-war with Nadal, apparently, the Canadian star has realized his problem.
After the adjustment, Shapovalov did reverse the decline, the third set did not drop the chain again, all the way to keep his own serve, the set score 5-4 to maintain the lead, the crucial tenth set, Shapovalov in Nadal's serve to complete the winning break, in the way of a break to win a set, Shapovalov fist to celebrate, morale is greatly boosted!
Nadal is disappointed to bow his head, for his performance in the third set, the 20 Grand Slam winner Nadal is certainly not very satisfied, the unavoidable serve is broken by the opponent, in the past, Nadal is often physically problematic. Sure enough, Nadal applied for a medical suspension in the fourth set, at which point Nadal was again broken by Shapovalov, and the set was already 1-4 behind.
After eating the pills allowed by the referee, Nadal continued to fight, but Shapovalov did not give Nadal a chance, and the set was 6-3, and the Canadian rising star chased another set, 2-2, dragging the game into the decider.
In the decider PK, Nadal tactically opposed, attacked in the opening stages, and after saving the first set, Nadal broke in the second set and established the advantage at 2-0. Shapovalov was never able to break back, and Nadal finally won the decider 6-3 in the game, making it 3-2 to advance to the men's singles round of 4!
Nadal deserves to be the god of war in the world's men's tennis arena! Losing 2 sets in a row, the big score 2-0 lead was chased into 2-2, the opponent frantically counterattacked, has completely started, and he was also attacked by injuries, many desperate circumstances could not stop Nadal, 5 sets of hard fighting, resisting the pressure, taking the decider, 2-0 to 2-2 and then 3-2, Nadal returned to the Australian Open men's singles semifinals after three years. In the previous two years, Nadal lost to Thiem in 2020 and missed the top 4 in 2021. The last time he advanced to the Australian Open men's singles round of four was in 2019, when Nadal eliminated Tiafo in the quarter-finals to reach the top four and eventually reached the final, but unfortunately lost to Djokovic and missed the second Australian Open title.