JAKARTA - Rafael Nadal is two games away from claiming a record 21st Grand Slam title after winning a five-set quarter-final battle over Denis Shapovalov at the Australian Open on Tuesday.
The sixth-seeded Spaniard beat 14th seed Canada 6-3, 6-4, 4-6, 3-6, 6-3 in a thrilling four hours and eight minutes at Rod Laver Arena to advance to his seventh semifinal in Melbourne, where he will face Matteo Berrettini or Gael Monfils.
It was a tough win for Nadal over the 22-year-old, who came back from a straight sets loss to third seed Alexander Zverev.
"Today was really tough. To be honest I didn't train for it," said Nadal, quoted by Antara from AFP.
One for the ages @RafaelNadal defeats Denis Shapovalov 6-3 6-4 4-6 3-6 6-3 to reach his seventh #AusOpen semifinal.#AO2022 pic.twitter.com/2vp5Enfeep
— #AusOpen (@AustralianOpen) January 25, 2022
"Denis played well. He is very talented, very aggressive and serves great. It's great to be in the semi-finals."
The Spanish tennis legend has the same record as his great rivals Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic with 20 major titles. While Djokovic was deported due to vaccination issues and Federer picked up an injury, there is a huge chance for Nadal to be at the top.
Nadal, the 2009 Australian Open champion, had a poor 2021 season with a chronic foot injury followed by a bout of COVID-19 in December.
He raced to a two-set lead but looked bogged down by stomach issues before finally surviving Shapovalov's passionate resistance.
"My stomach is starting to feel bad. They checked everything is fine with my body," said Nadal, who received medical treatment in the fourth set.
"I took a few tablets to try and fix my stomach."
Nadal looked on course for a straight sets win before Shapovalov hit back to bring the quarter-final tie to a thrilling decider climax.
Nadal broke Shapovalov's opener and held on for the win. The exuberant Canadian slams his racket onto the court in anger at losing the epic battle.
There was a heated argument early in the second set when Shapovalov was heard calling referee Carlos Bernardes "corrupt."
Nadal was found to be taking a lot of time between serves and Shapovalov believes the Spaniard deserves a time violation warning.
"You've been looking at the clock for a long time and he's still not ready to play. You have to code him," complained Shapovalov.
"He's not ready to play yet," Bernardes replied.
"Are you kidding? You are all corrupt," said the Canadian.
Nadal asked Shapovalov what was wrong and the two had a brief discussion on the net to calm the situation down.
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