The 35-year-old Spaniard advanced to the Australian Open
final for a sixth time with a 6-3, 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 win Friday over Matteo
Berrettini.
He arrived in Australia not knowing how long he’d last after
months off the tour recovering from injuries and then a bout of COVID-19.
He won a title at a tune-up tournament and now has won six
matches at the first Grand Slam tournament of the year.
One more and he’ll break record of 20 majors he shared with
Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic. He’ll also become just the fourth man in
history to win all four of the Grand Slam titles at least twice.
In the championship match on Sunday, he will play the winner
of the later semifinal between U.S. Open champion Daniil Medvedev and Stefanos
Tsitsipas.
Nadal’s win over Berrettini, under a closed roof at Rod
Laver Arena because of heavy local rain, was his 500th on hard courts at tour
level. He’s only won the title at the Australian Open only once, in 2009.
Adding a second was his only focus after yet another
semifinal win.
“For me, it’s all about the Australian Open more than
anything else,” he said in his on-court TV interview. “I have been a little
unlucky (here) in my career with some injuries. I played some amazing finals
with good chances.
“I feel very lucky that I won once. I never though about
another chance in 2022.”
Nadal broke the seventh-seeded Berrettini’s opening service
games in the first two sets and, after dropping the third, rallied to finish
off in just under three hours. That in itself was a relief after his long
five-set win over Denis Shapovalov two days earlier in the quarterfinals.
Nadal was the only member of the so-called Big Three who had
a chance to break the deadlock in Australia this time. Federer missed the
tournament to continue his recovery from knee surgery.
Djokovic, who has won nine of his Grand Slam titles in
Australia, was deported on the eve of the tournament for failing to meet the
country’s strict COVID-19 vaccination criteria.
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