Nadal beats Berrettini to advance to 6th Australian Open final

Melbourne, Australia, Jan 28 (EFE).- Spain’s Rafael Nadal on Friday advanced into his sixth Australian Open final and is now one win away from becoming the first men’s player in history to take home 21 grand slam titles.

The sixth seed beat Italian Matteo Berrettini (7) in a tight 6-3, 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 in two hours, 55 minutes under a closed roof due to a storm.

“I had to suffer and I had to fight but to be in the final again means a lot,” Nadal, 35, said after the match.

He is tied at 20 grand slam wins with Serbia’s Novak Djokovic, who was expelled from Australia before he could compete, and Switzerland’s Roger Federer, who did not participate due to injury.

The Spaniard will face the winner of Friday’s other match between Russia’s Daniil Medvedev (2) and Greece’s Stefanos Tsitsipas (4).

Nadal also qualified for his 29th grand slam final, closing the gap to his main rivals Federer and Djokovic with 31.

“There were times I played amazing finals with good chances – against Novak in 2012, against Roger 2017 – I was close a couple of times,” Nadal said, having won in Melbourne only once, in 2009.

“I feel very lucky that I won it once in my career in 2009 but I never thought about another chance in 2022.” EFE

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