Melbourne: Stefanos Tsitsipas pulled off an astonishing and near unprecedented comeback at the Australian Open, knocking off Rafael Nadal to reach the semifinals.
The Greek star appeared well on his way out after tamely losing the first two sets, but then rallied for a gritty 3-6 2-6 7-6(4) 6-4 7-5 victory at Rod Laver Arena.
The epic contest lasted close to four hours but it is no stretch to say one shot might have turned things around, Nadal incredibly dumping an overhead long at 1-0 in the third-set tiebreak.
Tsitsipas only faced one break point in the final three sets, in the last game, as he became just the second man to top Nadal at a Grand Slam after losing the first two sets.
“I’m speechless,” Tsitsipas said on court. “I have no words to describe what just happened. It’s an unbelievable feeling to be able to fight at such a level and just be able to give it my all on the court.
“I started very nervous, I won’t lie, but I don’t know what happened after the third set. I just flied like a little bird, everything was working for me. The emotions at the end are indescribable.”
Nadal hadn’t relinquished a set prior to Wednesday’s quarterfinal and claimed 35 consecutive sets at majors prior to Tsitsipas’ huge comeback.
Tsitsipas has now downed Nadal and Roger Federer (in 2019) at the Australian Open.
Tsitsipas now faces Russian world No.4 Daniil Medvedev in the semi-finals, who beat compatriot Andrey Rublev earlier in the day. Unlike Tsitsipas, Medvedev had a much more straightforward path against seventh seed Rublev, who was struggling with the humid conditions. This is only the third time in his career that Nadal has lost a match after going two sets up to love. The last man to beat Nadal in this manner was Italy's Fabio Fognini at the 2015 US Open. ATP Finals champion Medvedev earlier beat Rublev 7-5, 6-3, 6-2. He has thus far won all 11 of his matches against top 10 players since the US Open in September 2020. He goes into the semi-finals on a 19-match unbeaten run. world no. 1 Novak Djokovic defeated Germany's Alexander Zverev in the tournament at the Rod Laver Arena to register a place in the semi-finals.
It was an intense clash between the two top-ranked players as the sixth-ranked Zverev fought till the end against the Serbian in a bid to progress to the next round of the tournament.
Djokovic came from behind and after losing the first set he won the clash 6-7(6), 6-2, 6-4, 7-6(8) that lasted for three hours and 30 minutes.
In the women's section, world No.1 and former champion Ashleigh Barty was ousted from the championship.
Barty lost the match 1-6, 6-3, 6-2 as Muchova continued taking down higher ranked opponents. She had earlier beaten her compatriot and world No.1 6 Karolina Pliskova before beating 18th ranked Elise Mertens of Belgium in the fourth round.
