Rafael Nadal qualified for the Australian Open tennis final, the first Grand Slam of the season, for the sixth time in his career on Friday in Melbourne. The Spaniard, seeded N.6 and 5th player in the world, beat in the semi-final the Italian Matteo Berrettini, 7th in the world and seeded N.7, in four sets: 6-3, 6-2, 3-6 and 6-3 in nearly three hours of play (2h55).
For his 29th final in a Grand Slam tournament, Rafael Nadal, in search of a 21st title (a record), will play Sunday either once morest the Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas (N.4), 4th player in the world, or once morest the Russian Daniil Medvedev (N.2), world number 2, who face each other in the other semi-final.
Winner of the Australian Open in 2009, the Mallorcan, 35, was eliminated in the quarter-finals of the last two editions of the Australian Open, respectively by Dominic Thiem and Stefanos Tsitsipas. He might take advantage of the absences of Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic to win a 21st major title and thus overtake the Swiss and the Serb. Nadal remains on four finals lost to the antipodes (2012, 2014, 2017, 2019).
Nadal, who is coming out of a very complicated period with an injury and a foot operation, positive for covid at the end of last year, might also become one of the few to win each of the four Grand Slam tournaments twice.
It was also his 500th victory on hard courts on Friday. He had not played since last August and an elimination in the round of 16 at the Washington tournament.
The 25-year-old Roman was playing his first donw under semi-final. In 2021, he had to give up before his round of 16 at Melbourne Park due to an abdominal injury. Since then, he has reached the quarters at Roland-Garros and the US Open and was especially beaten at Wimbledon for his first Grand Slam final.