Beijing time, January 25: This afternoon, Beijing time, the first tennis Grand Slam tournament of 2022, the Australian Open, ended a high-profile men's singles quarterfinal. The 2009 tournament champion 20-time Grand Slam champion No. 6 seed Spanish football king Nadal defeated the 14th seed Canada Shapovalov after a 4-hour and 8-minute battle to win the first men's singles semi-final ticket by a score of 6-3, 6-4/4-6/3-6/6-6. In the women's singles quarterfinals that ended earlier, 2017 US Open runner-up Usa's Case and host darling top seed Barty defeated their respective opponents in the semifinals. In addition, in the mixed doubles quarterfinals final that ended today, the combination of Mainland China's Zhang Shuai and Australia's Pierce, who participated as the No. 2 seed, defeated a pair of Japanese pairs in two straight sets to get tickets to the semi-finals. Let's take a look at the latest news from the Australian Open.
Today is the ninth matchday of this year's Australian Open, and according to the schedule of the venue, there will be a 1/4 final of the men's and women's singles upper half and all 1/4 finals of mixed doubles. One of the most watched matches at Rodrawall Stadium during the day today is the first men's singles quarterfinal played by 20-time Grand Slam Champions Tournament No. 6 seed Spanish king Nadal against No. 14 seed Canada's Shapovalov. The two have met four times before, with Nadal having the upper hand with 3 wins and 1 loss, the most recent of which came in the third round of last year's Rome Masters, when Nadal saved two match points to reverse his opponents and win the game. The pre-match parties also thought it was a match-up, but they were more optimistic that Nadal would get tickets to the semi-finals.
The match began at 11:25 a.m. Beijing time today, and after the start of the game, Nadal entered the state and started faster, and soon after, he made a break and maintained the advantage of breaking until the end of the first set to take the lead 6-3 and win the first set. Shapovalov got the first chance to serve after the second set, but Nadal did not give his opponent much chance, and after a period of stalemate between the two sides, Nadal seized the opportunity to break and maintained the advantage of the break until the end to take a 2-0 lead in the next set 6-4. In last year's Australian Open quarterfinals, Nadal was reversed by the Greek brother in the first two sets to stop in the quarterfinals, and it is not reassuring to face the post-95 players to take such a lead.
After entering the third set, Shapovalov still had the advantage of starting, and both sides each saved their own serve in the first nine sets shapovalov to take a 5-4 starting lead. Arriving at the crucial tenth set, Nadal's serve showed a noticeable fluctuation before giving up three consecutive sets 0-40, and despite stubbornly saving one that still failed to stop the opponent's attack, he lost the second set, so Shapovalov won the third set 6-4 to chase the set to 1:2. After entering the fourth set, Shapovalov completed the break at the beginning of the set and saved two consecutive break points in his own serve to save the next set 6-3 to drag the match into the decider. After entering the decider, Nadal showed his tenacious fighting spirit, fully demonstrated the quality of the God of War at the beginning of the game and repeatedly defused the opponent's break point in his own serve, maintaining the advantage of the break and finally winning the game 6-3 to win the game and get the first ticket to the men's singles semifinals.
With the victory of this match, Nadal reached the semi-finals at the Australian Open again in three years, which is the seventh time he has reached at least the final four at the Australian Open and the 36th time to reach the final four of a Grand Slam competition. Such achievements rank third in history after Federer's 46 and Djokovic's 42. The victory was also Nadal's 74th victory at the Australian Open, after the French Open's 105, making him the second most Grand Slam tournament in his career. He has won 64 at the US Open and 53 at Wimbledon. In a post-match interview, Nadal said: "I'm not 21 years old anymore, so it's great to have two days off after a tough game like today. I believe I can prepare for the semi-finals. Nadal's semi-final opponent will be formed between No. 7 seed Italy's Berrettini and No. 17 seed France veteran Monfils.
Today's first singles match at Rodrawall Stadium was a women's singles quarterfinal, which was played by the Tournament's No. 4 seed last year's French Open double champion Czech Klečkova against 2017 U.S. Open runner-up Usa's Keys. The match was the first time the two had met in an official match, and the pre-match parties considered it to be a match between the two sides. The match began at 9:40 a.m. Beijing time, and after the game began, Keys took full control of the initiative of the game and swept the opponent 6-3, 6-2 in 1 hour and 25 minutes to get the first ticket to the semi-final. This is the second time That Case has advanced to the final four of a Grand Slam since the 2018 US Open, and this game is also the ninth victory of her career against the top five players in the world rankings, and interestingly, eight of these nine wins today are ranked fourth in the world. Case will compete for a final spot with the tournament's top seeded local darling Barty, who won the 21st seed, Pegura of the United States, in just 62 minutes to sweep the 21st seed Pegula in just 62 minutes in a women's singles quarterfinal that ended this evening Beijing time.
The combination of Mainland China's Zhang Shuai, who played as the No. 2 seed in a mixed doubles quarterfinal that ended at Kia Stadium this afternoon, and Pearce of Australia, defeated the No. 8 seed Japanese duo McRagan and Shibahara Yingcai 6-4 to get a ticket to the semi-final. This is Zhang Shuai's third time to advance to the mixed doubles semi-finals of a Grand Slam, the previous two times at the 2018 US Open and the 2021 Wimbledon, and the partner at that time was also Pierce, and the two will work together to impact the first mixed doubles final of the pairing. The last time a Chinese player won the Australian Open mixed doubles match was back in the 2008 Australian Open, when Sun Tiantian partnered serbian Zemundzic to win the final title.
Nadal has returned to the Australian Open Final Four again after this vicious battle, and I believe he will also try to impact his second Australian Open championship to achieve the feat of double-lap Full Slam and bring his number of Grand Slams to an unprecedented 21. The Australian Open matches continue and we will continue to pay attention to bringing you relevant reports.