The Spanish Rafael Nadal (6) overcame the Italian’s reaction Matteo Berrettini (7) in the third set, after winning by a tight 6-3, 6-2, 3-6 and 6-3 and getting the ticket for the grand final of the Australian Open.
“I have started playing very well. In the third he has gone with everything and I have not served so well. We have to suffer and fight, and that is what has happened in the room”, he commented when asked by former American tennis player Jim Courier about a Rod Laver Arena court that kept the roof closed as a result of a strong storm accompanied by abundant rains that hit Melbourne.
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Nadal’s plan came together perfectly in the early stages against a Berrettini unable to find answers to the Spaniard’s persistence on his backhand.
The man from Manacor resumed his best version of service in the first set, after committing his particular record of double faults against Shapovalov, and maintained a positive 70 percent of both first in games and points achieved with the first serve. He closed the first round with only five unforced errors and scored the only break point he had in his favor.
His state of grace continued at the beginning of the second set after breaking serve twice in a row that corroborated the omens of a comfortable victory.
Italian reaction
The 4-0 was presented very uphill against a Berrettini very far from intimidating his rival’s serve and Nadal closed an impeccable second set with only two unforced errors.
However, Berrettini, who was playing a semi-final at Melbourne Park for the first time, found good feelings with his serve, unlike a more hesitant Nadal on serve, and scored one of the match points with an unlikely forehand down the line that confirmed the break to establish a 5-3 in his favor, which would end up being definitive for the subsequent 6-3. The Roman tennis player, who accumulated 57% of points with firsts in the second, closed the third set with a positive 84% that illustrated his improvement. Berrettini did not lower the bar with his impressive serve in the fourth set and connected a streak of 23 consecutive points to serve that started in the previous set, to give excitement to the first semifinal of the twelfth day in Melbourne Park.
However, Nadal, who remained afloat despite the Italian’s notable improvement, stopped Berrettini’s unappealable streak on serve to steal a service game that would mean the ticket to the final after confirming his serve with 5-3 in his favor.
He celebrated with the same enthusiasm with which he celebrated that victory against Roger Federer in the semifinals of Roland Garros in 2005 at the age of 18 when he obtained his first classification for a ‘slam’ final, but this time he will have the opportunity to consecrate himself as the most all-time laureate and break the barrier of the 20 greats.
Nadal was confirmed with six participations as the sixth tennis player with the most appearances in the Melbourne Park final and surpassed the five presences of the Scotsman Andy Murray, the local Ken Rosewall and the Swede Stefan Edberg.
He achieved his classification for a ‘slam’ final number 29 and closed the gap with his main competitors, Federer and Djokovic, who have 31 appearances. He also became, at 35 years and 241 days, the fourth oldest tennis player to reach a final in a ‘major’ tournament, and was behind Rosewell, Federer and the Australian Mal Anderson.
Despite the fact that it is the ‘slam’ where he won the fewest titles, the ‘major aussie’ is the most successful in terms of games won, adding a baggage of 74 wins and 15 losses that exceed his figures at Wimbledon (53-12) and the US Open (64-11).
EFE
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