Australian Open 2021 | Nadal Is Out

The Spanish Rafael Nadal loses in the quarterfinals of the Australian Open after a very close match against the Greek Stéfanos Tsitsipás who beat the Spanish in the fifth set 3-6, 2-6, 7-6, 6-4, 7 -5.

In the semifinals, Tsitsipás will face Russian Daniil Medveded, who eliminated his compatriot Andrey Rublev. In the other semi-final table, Djokovic will face Karatsev.

Stefanos Tsitsipas has qualified this Wednesday for the semifinals of the Australian Open after going back to Rafael Nadal and finally deciding the duel in his favor 3-6, 2-6, 7-6 (4), 6-4 and 7-5 , in four hours and five minutes .Nadal remains in the quarterfinals, the same result of the last edition so he does not add points in his ranking. Daniil Medvevev could surpass him in the event of lifting the title. The dream of his twenty-first 'Grand Slam' will have to wait for the land of Roland Garros .After passing over Laslo Djere, Michael Mmoh, Cameron Norrie and Fabio Fognini, the manacorí has   yielded against a 'top10', an elite that resists him in Australia. The last time he beat one in Melbourne was Milos Raonic (3), in 2017.

The game was as expected: Nadal pointed all the time backwards to open later to the right of the rival and Tsitsipas held on to his serve to extend the outcome as long as possible. Each with their weapons kept their serve until the eighth game .It was so humid in Melbourne that the big 20 champion was asking for more power from the fan behind him on gear changes. The Spanish was not particularly accurate with the staging of the ball. Nor did he need it because he had plenty of arguments to alleviate that lack.At 33 minutes the first break ball arrived for Rafa with a home-brand backhand passer. The Greek would then crash a right into the net . He was erratic with his favorite hit. His rival stood at 5-3, at the gates of the first set. He would not fail at the time of getting ahead on the scoreboard.Nadal would break his opponent's serve for the second time in the continuation and put the direct. His right was drawing fire. The last five games had fallen on his side . Tsitsipas cut the bleeding when it seemed too late for him. In an empty stand, Apóstolos, his father, was the only one applauding him.Rafa did not give up. He did not give away a single point and that made the Hellene even more desperate. Stefanos did not give up, he brought the outcome of the third set to sudden death and won it. The Spaniard missed two shots that never appear in his statistics for unforced errors .Many nervesNerves took hold of Nadal's racket, who conceded the first break balls in the first and fifth games of the fourth sleeve . He neutralized them with service. They even allowed a second serve 'ace'. But the duel was even and his right hand limped. The chair umpire noticed that the Greek was receiving instructions from his bench and received a warning.

In the ninth round came Tsitsipas' first break after three unsuccessful attempts. It allowed him to sign the tables on the scoreboard. Only Roger Federer, in the final of the Masters 1,000 in Miami, in 2005, and Fognini, in the third round of the US Open, in 2015, had come from such an adverse score against Rafa before .The two knew that the victory would fall on the side of the first who added a 'break' advantage. There was no strength for more. Nadal accompanied his winning shots with the characteristic "let's go". Any mental help was welcome. The Greek served for the win in the twelfth game. Just before he had achieved the final break. Rafa had a six-ball ball and he got away. On the third, Stefanos made history and fate would have it be with a parallel setback.

While Tsitsipas will face Medvedev in the semifinals on Friday, the Spaniard returns to Europe. It will return to official competition from March 1 at the Rotterdam Open 500.