Rafael Nadal had everything under control in the Australian Open quarter-finals against Stefanos Tsitsipas on Wednesday. The 20-time major champion had the upper hand over the young Greek in the first two sets, losing just five games and sailing towards the finish line.
Instead, Tsitsipas found his best tennis in set number three, was well behind the serve and prevailed in the crucial moments to a massive 3-6, 2-6, 7-6, 6-4, 7-5 win in achieve four hours and five minutes!
From this third set, Stefanos shifted into a higher gear and managed to control the rallies and his serve games. He reached a tiebreak and won it 7-4 to massively boost self-confidence.
Nadal made some loose smash mistakes in the tie-break, and they would cost him dearly as he couldn’t play at the highest level for the rest of the match. He stayed on but didn’t do enough to win another set and avoid defeat.
Henman supports Rafael Nadal to take big titles for the rest of the season
The pressure was on Rafa in sets four and five, and he couldn’t bear it after losing his way.
It was broken once in each sentence to drive the young Greek across the finish line and hit the exit door. It was only the third loss for the great Spaniard after taking a two sets lead and the second for Majors when he didn’t take an extra step against Roger Federer in Miami in 2005 and Fabio Fognini at the 2016 US Open.
At the same time, Stefanos threw everything he had at his opponent, delivered one good service game after another, and ended his most notable career win to reach the second Australian Open semi-finals in three years.
Talking about the game, Tim Henman said it was Nadal’s massive defeat, although he expects to see the Spaniard at his best again and pursue the notable titles for the remainder of the season. Rafa tries to win the 21st
Win major crown and move ahead of Roger Federer. “Rafa will be fine. It’s a massively disappointing defeat but he’s been around for so long. He’s so experienced and he’s had amazing success; that will be disappointing, but there will be many more opportunities ahead of him this year. If he’s fit and is healthy, he can certainly win big events again in the future, “said Tim Henman.
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