Rafael Nadal has booked his place in the semi-finals of the Australian Open after winning a five-set epic against Canada‘s Denis Shapovalov on Tuesday.
Nadal, looking for just his second title in Melbourne, raced into a two-set lead on Rod Laver Arena after winning the opening sets 6-3, 6-4.
But he was pegged back by Shapovalov, who won the third and fourth sets 6-4, 6-3 to take it a decider. However, Nadal booked his spot in the final four by claiming the decisive fifth 6-3.
Rafael Nadal is into the semi-finals of the Australian Open after beating Denis Shapovalov
Nadal raced into a 2-0 lead before being pegged back by the Canadian and then winning a fifth
Earlier in the clash, a furious Shapovalov savaged umpire Carlos Bernardes and called him ‘corrupt’ after he took issue with the time being given to Nadal at the start of the second set.
The young Canadian appeared to argue that Nadal should have been punished for taking too long to return to the baseline.
After telling Bernardes to ‘code him’, Shapovalov asked ‘are you kidding me?’ when the umpire refused to cave into his demands.
Just a game later, Shapovalov was clearly still irked by the incident and appeared to be making glances to the umpire as Nadal prepared to start serving.
Bernardes halted play and asked the Canadian ‘what do you want?’ before telling Shapovalov to focus on the shot clock and that his looks ‘disturb me’.
Shapovalov savaged the referees and called them ‘corrupt’ earlier on Rod Laver Arena
The Canadian appeared to argue that Nadal should have been punished for delaying his serve
The two players then met at the net to discuss the incident before returning to start the point.
Nadal, who called the trainer for an abdominal issue during the fourth set, lost from two sets up against Stefanos Tsitsipas at the same stage last year but he made sure there was no repeat.
Shapovalov’s fury clearly didn’t subside because, after his defeat was confirmed, he smashed his racket into the ground, causing the frame to snap.
More to follow.
