MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — With another Australian Open semifinal spot secured after a four-hour, five-set victory, Rafael Nadal looked toward his support team in Rod Laver Arena and nodded his head.
It was like he was just confirming the plan: Five wins down, two to go in his bid for a men’s record 21st major title.
On the other side of the net, 14th-seeded Denis Shapovalov broke his racket on the hard blue court after a frustrating 6-3, 6-4, 4-6, 3-6, 6-3 loss to Nadal, who later acknowledged he felt “destroyed” physically on a hot afternoon.
There were plenty of momentum-shifting moments, including Nadal needing attention for a stomach ailment in the third and fourth sets after dominating the first two.Shapovalov openly complained to chair umpire Carlos Bernardes during the quarterfinal match about Nadal getting longer breaks than players usually are entitled to, and taking too long between points.
He took a few shots at Nadal in his post-match news conference, too, saying he’s “100%” convinced the 35-year-old Spaniard receives special treatment.
At a tournament where he’s clinched the title only once (2009) and had lost seven of his previous 13 quarterfinals — by far his worst conversion rate at any of the four major tournaments — Nadal looked vulnerable in the third and fourth sets.
But following a seven-minute break — when Nadal left the court and went to the locker room — between the last point of the fourth set and his first serve in the fifth, he recovered sufficiently to save a break point with an ace, hold serve and then break Shapovalov for a 2-0 lead.“I don’t know, was a little bit of miracle,” Nadal said of his revival.
