After 4 hours and 20 minutes, 336 points and it seemed that his body was not going to resist, with abdominal problems, Rafael Nadal will be in the Wimbledon semifinals for the eighth time by beating Taylor Fritz 6-3, 5-7, 6-3, 5-6 and 7-6 (10-4), in another agonizing match.
Not even he believed that he would leave the plant as the winner. “I don’t know how I did it. I really enjoy playing these games with all your support. It has been a tough afternoon against a tough opponent. It was not an easy match, and I am happy to be in the semi-finals. That is all. There is something in the abdominal not well. I had to find solutions in another way. I’ve had times where I thought I couldn’t go on, but the energy of the track… Thank you for that,” she briefly explained at courtside.
Just @Rafael Nadal things ????
The champion comes back to defeat Taylor Fritz in a five-set epic, 3-6, 7-5, 3-6, 7-5, 7-6(4)#Wimbledon | #CentreCourt100 pic.twitter.com/G7Luqy8lSH
— Wimbledon (@Wimbledon) July 6, 2022
Strange onset and injury
It’s strange to see Nadal give up two breakage leads and that’s what happened in the first two sets. After breaking the service of Fritz in the first game he could not maintain the advantage. Not only that. He lost two games (3-3 and 5-3), the last one with a double fault and a worrying gesture of pain, to deliver the first set in 37 minutes. Fritz, who began with many precautions and without risking as he had promised, began to enter with his game, his deep backhand and the errors of Nadal to chain four games in a row.
In the second sleeve the situation was repeated. Without playing at a high level, Nadal he managed to make the ‘break’ (2-0) and take a 3-0 lead, more than because of his good game, because of Fritz’s mistakes, after a fall in which he returned the ball with his left foot. But again Nadaluncomfortable, insecure, gave up his service (3-2).
father’s gestures
Fritz came back into play to equalize (3-3) and in the next game Nadal he saved his serve, again with visible abdominal discomfort, with topspin serves that did not exceed 170 km/h. She saved the game but went to the locker room to receive treatment, while his father Sebastià, made gestures for him to leave.
The moment in which Sebastián and María Isabel, father and sister of Rafa #Nadalthey made gestures to him so that he would not take risks and withdraw from his match before #Fritz. #Wimbledonhttps://t.co/7tOfedMb2U
— Sebastián Torok (@sebatorok) July 6, 2022
It did not. After five minutes, Nadal returned to the track with a serious gesture. It wasn’t right, but if someone wants to throw him off a track, he has to do more than wait for him to walk away. Fritz, also with a bandage on his right thigh, did not take advantage of the moment. He lowered his pressure again and when he realized it, Nadal had broken his service and snatched the set.
history repeated
Fritz He also asked the physio about his left thigh. If the American had said that they would have a match between healthy people, after the Indian Wells final in which the two played injured, at Wimbledon the situation was repeated. That did not prevent Fritz won the third set after making two ‘breaks’ to Nadal, the first thanks to another double fault. and the second, with a right two meters outside the line to make the second break.
In the fourth set the two tennis players They broke out of service three times. Twice Nadal (1-0 and 2-1), who took advantage to continue the fight. Fritz made an effort to equalize 4-4, but ended up being caught to give up serve (6-5) and the set.
‘Super tie break’, definitive
Nadal was not willing to leave the central easily. He went back to the locker room to reappear, combed and changed, ready for another of his heroics in a fifth set, where his serve held up again, he served stronger. The double faults were gone, not a wince. His gaze was different.
In the seventh game, after the fourth ‘break point’ Nadal the break was scored (4-3) that seemed decisive, but Fritz he broke in the next to level the score until a definitive ‘super tie break’.
So much fighting to end up drowned on the shore. Fritz, he couldn’t take the pressure of the moment. He gave up a 5-0 inning. And Nadal did not let the advantage escape to finish off the victory that seemed impossible with a first serve and a definitive forehand (10-4).
While the battle in the center lasted, the Nick Kyrgios took the step to wait this Friday for Nadal defeating the Chilean Christian Garin by 6-4, 6-3 and 7-6 (5). The wayward Australian tennis player, with 17 aces and 35 winning shots, signed up for his first classification in a Grand Slam semifinal, at the age of 27. On the track he will wait for you Nadalwhom he won in 2014, and whom he has defeated on three of the six occasions they have faced each other.
The women’s semifinals
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In the last women’s quarterfinals, the Romanian Simona Halep was imposed on the American Amanda Anisimova (6-2, 6-4), while the Kazakh, born in Moscow, Elena Rybakinam defeated Australian Ajla Tomljanovic (4-6, 6-2, 6-3).
This Thursday’s semifinals will face Halep2019 champion, against Rybakina and the tunisian Ons Jabeur against the German Tatjana Maria.