Lagatar24 Desk
Melbourne, Jan 28: After defeating Italian seventh seed Matteo Berrettini 6-3, 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 in the Australian Open final on Friday, Rafa Nadal was one win away from a men’s record 21st Grand Slam title.
Interestingly, this is Nadal’s sixth Australian Open final appearance. He’ll face the winner of Daniil Medvedev vs. Stefanos Tsitsipas’ match.
If Nadal wins the final on Sunday, he will break a three-way tie with Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer for the most Grand Slam singles championships, giving him exclusive ownership of the record.
With rain falling outside, the 35-year-old Nadal got off to a fast start inside the Rod Laver Arena’s closed roof, breaking Wimbledon finalist Berrettini’s service early in each of the first two sets. Berrettini finally came alive in the third set, driving Nadal back with his forehands and forcing a fourth set with a break of service.
After a two-hour and 55-minute battle, the Spaniard earned the vital break in the eighth game as the Italian’s unforced errors accumulated, and another blunder let Nadal to score his first match point.
In the other semifinal, Daniil Medvedev, the US Open champion, will face Stefanos Tsitsipas, who is attempting to become the first man in the Open era to win a second Grand Slam championship directly following his first. Berrettini lost in straight sets to Nadal in their only prior meeting in the US Open semi-finals in 2019, but the Italian, who reached the Wimbledon final last year, claimed he was more confident in his abilities now.
