Nadal battles stomach pain to reach semis

Rafael Nadal dug deep into his immense reserves of resilience for the second match running to keep his dream of a 21st Grand Slam title alive at the Australian Open on Tuesday, as unseeded American Madison Keys reached the women’s semi-finals.

Nadal raced to a two-set quarter-final lead against Denis Shapovalov but then began to feel unwell, needing medical attention for a stomach complaint before surviving a four-hour thriller 6-3, 6-4, 4-6, 3-6, 6-3.

The Spanish sixth seed previously had to show all his experience and tenacity just to reach the quarter-final in an epic 28-minute tiebreak, and he somehow found the willpower again to cross the finish line, despite being badly hampered.

“I started to feel not very well in my stomach so I just asked if they could do something,” said Nadal of calling for medical assistance. “They just checked everything was all right and then I took some tablets to try to improve the situation. It was lucky that I was serving great in the fifth.”

Nadal won a warm-up tournament and continues to amaze even himself after being out for most of 2021 with a chronic foot injury. He then caught Covid-19 in December.

“I’m not 21 anymore!” he said.

“The real truth is that two months ago we didn’t know if we will be able to be back on tour at all,” Nadal admitted. “It’s just a present of life that I am here playing tennis again.”

A frustrated Shapovalov smashed his racquet after losing and had a running battle with the chair umpire over the time Nadal was taking to serve, at one point calling the official “corrupt”.

Barty on road to another Slam title

Ashleigh Barty said Tuesday she was having fun “problem-solving” on court after accelerating her march towards a maiden Australian Open title Tuesday with a masterclass against Jessica Pegula.

The single-minded world number one dismantled the 21st-seeded American 6-2, 6-0 in 63 minutes on Rod Laver Arena to power into the last four at Melbourne Park for only the second time.

She will face the unseeded Madison Keys for a place in Saturday’s final after the American upset French Open champion and fourth seed Barbora Krejcikova 6-3, 6-2.

Keys is into her fifth Grand Slam semi-final and her first in Melbourne since 2015.

Barty is renowned as one of the best tacticians in the game and figuring out what to do in tough moments is a key part of her game.

“To be honest I’m having fun trying to problem solve out on the court, and each and every opponent has been different, each and every opponent has presented me with a different challenge and forced me to use another tool in my toolbox,” she said. “I think being able to do that really well and I have been able to execute, which is sometimes important, you can have all the right ideas but you need to be able to do it under the pump.”