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Stefanos Tsitsipas was behind by 0-2 sets, but made an epic upset over the holder of 20 Grand Slam titles, Rafael Nadal, to get the sweetest qualification of his career for the semifinals of the Australian Open!
After 4 hours 5 minutes of a thrilling battle at Rod Laver Arena, Stefanos Tsitsipas overturned the 0-2 set against Rafael Nadal, to take the victory with 3-6, 2-6, 7-6 (4), 6 -4, 7-5 and qualify for the semifinals of the Australian Open for the 2nd time in his career!
Tsitsipas became only the 3rd player who manages to reverse a match with Nadal from 0-2 set, 2nd in Grand Slam. Roger Federer did it in Miami in 2005 and Fabio Fognini at the US Open in 2015, with Nadal having won 246 of his 248 previous matches, in which he led 2-0 sets!
He qualified for the 2nd time in the semifinals of the Australian Open, where in 2019 Nadal had stopped him. This time he will face Daniil Medvedev, who earlier today beat Andrey Rublev 3-0 set.
Stefanos seemed to be out of shape in the first two sets of the match, with Nadal dragging him at his own pace, dominating the field and reaching this 2-0 set quite comfortably!
In the 3rd set, the Spaniard lost only one point in all his service games (24/25) and that in the last game, playing very well and consistently. Stefanos also played well, who raised his level a lot in this set and he was not threatened by the service line either.
In the very crucial tie-break, Nadal made two unusually effortless mistakes in smash and Stefanos, who was very consistent and made no mistakes, took advantage of this and imposed himself 7-4, to return to claiming the victory.
From there, the scenery changed a lot. Stefanos was now the best player on the field and seemed to have the upper hand. Having 3 more lost break points earlier, he managed to make his first break in the match in the 9th game of the 4th set, to go ahead 5-4 and then conquer it, thanks to another easy serve hold.
In the 5th set there was a big battle, with Stefanos holding on, remaining a little better than Nadal and making the very big break in the 11th game, to go ahead 6-5. Then followed a very difficult game, with Nadal pushing and fighting with all his might to stay in the tournament.
Finally, after 3 draws, an erased break point and the 3rd of the match point, Steph completed the great triumph with a backhand in the straight, leaving the “statue” the Spaniard, unable to do anything.
This is the biggest victory of Tsitsipas, given the way he came. Steph beat Nadal (2-6) for the second time in 8 matches, the player who was as difficult as anyone else in the past.
He will be in the semifinals of the Australian Open for the 2nd time on Friday, for the 3rd time in a major and will claim his first qualification in a Grand Slam final.
Source HMERA
Photo credit Eurosport
