Rafael Nadal - World No.6 beats Shapovalov to advance to men’s singles semis

On the other side of the net, 14th-seeded Denis Shapovalov of Canada broke his racket on the hard blue court after a frustrating 3-6, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, 3-6 loss to Nadal, who later acknowledged that he felt “destroyed” physically on a hot Tuesday afternoon.

There were plenty of momentum-shifting moments, including Nadal needing attention for a stomach ailment in the third and fourth sets after dominating the first two. Shapovalov complained to chair umpire Carlos Bernardes during the quarter-final match about Nadal getting longer breaks than usual, and taking too long between points.

At a tournament where he has clinched the title only once (2009) and had lost seven of his previous 13 quarter-finals, Nadal looked vulnerable in the third and fourth sets. But following a seven-minute break – when Nadal left the court and went to the locker room – between the last point of the fourth set and his first serve in the fifth, he recovered to save a break point with an ace, hold serve and then break Shapovalov for a 2-0 lead.

“I don’t know, it was a little bit of a miracle,” Nadal said of his revival. “I was destroyed physically, to be honest. But my serve worked well. Every game that I was winning with my serve was a victory, no?”

Nadal will get two days off before Friday’s semi-final against Matteo Berrettini. No.7 Berrettini held on to beat 17th seed Gael Monfils of France 6-4, 6-4, 3-6, 3-6, 6-2 and become the first Italian man to reach the Australian Open semi-finals.

The women’s singles quarter-finals were over in straight sets, with Madison Keys of the United States beating 2021 French Open champion Barbora Krejcikova (Czech Republic) 6-3, 6-2 in the Day 9 opener and top-ranked Ashleigh Barty of Australia advancing with an easy 6-2, 6-0 win over No.21 Jessica Pegula from the USA.

“I did everything I could to rest this off-season and focus on starting fresh and new... starting from zero and not focusing on the last year,” Keys said. “I think it is going well so far.”

On her part, World No.1 and local hope Barty said: “I have grown as a person. I have grown as a player. I feel like I am a more complete player now.”

Results:Men’s singles: Quarter-finals: Shapovalov lost to Nadal 3-6, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, 3-6; Monfils lost to Berrettini 4-6, 4-6, 6-3, 6-3, 2-6

Women’s singles: Quarter-finals: Krejcikova lost to Keys 3-6, 2-6; Barty bt Pegula 6-2, 6-0