ATP Melbourne: Rafael Nadal without a fight in the semifinals
Friday free of play for Rafael Nadal at the ATP Tour 250 tournament in Melbourne: The Spaniard moved into the semifinals without a fight after the withdrawal of opponent Tallon Griekspoor.
by tennisnet.com
last edit: Jan 07, 2022, 09:00 am
The path to the 89th career title could be one of the easiest for Rafael Nadal. At the ATP Tour 250 tournament in Melbourne, Nadal is in the semifinals after only winning one match. The Spaniard should have played against Tallon Griekspoor on Friday, but the Dutchman could not play for the quarter-final match against Nadal. The next opponent will now be Emil Ruusuvuori, who had no problems in the 6: 2 and 6: 1 against Alex Molcan.
On paper, Grigor Dimitrov should be the last big challenge for Rafael Nadal, a final of these two would probably also have the greatest charm for fans and organizers. Dimitrov has yet to win his quarter-final against Botic van de Zandschulp and then a possible semi-final against either Jaume Munar or Maxime Cressy.
Nadal with only one tournament win in Australia
For Nadal, a triumph at this event would only be the second ever on Australian soil: The first came with victory at the Australian Open 2009. However, the 20-time major champion rarely competed in preparation tournaments for the first Grand Slam Tournament of a year shown.
Rafael Nadal's last tournament win on hard court dates back to 2020, when he was allowed to raise the trophy in Acapulco. In the fall before that, Nadal had won the final against Daniil Medvedev at the US Open. Should there really be a final meeting with Dimitrov in Melbourne, the statistics would clearly speak for Nadal: He lost only one of 15 games - in Beijing in 2016.
Here the single tableau in Melbourne
laver arena