Tennis player, Stefanos Tsitsipas has ended world no. 2, Rafael Nadal’s race in this year’s Australian Open.
Tsitsipas, 22, ended Nadal’s chances of securing a 21st Grand Slam title after a four-hour and five minutes epic in Melbourne, booking a place in the semi-final against Daniil Medvedev.
The Greek, who is a fifth seed, miraculously came back from two sets down to beat the world No 2. It was his second victory of his career over Nadal in eight meetings.
For Nadal, the defeat marks only the second time in his career that he has lost a match after securing the first two sets.
It also ends his quest, at this Grand Slam, to secure a 21st Grand Slam title. Instead, he remains level with Roger Federer at the top of the all-time standings, with regard to men’s Grand Slam titles.
During the game, Tsitsipas showed resilience and determination to overcome his slow start and win 3-6, 2-6, 6-7, 6-4, 7-5.
However, Nadal made series of mistakes in the third set which were costly, making him lose the set, giving Tstisipas hope of a comeback.
The 22-year-old went ahead to take the fourth set too, which boosted his confidence.
The fifth set was on serve until Tstispas broke Nadal to take a 6-5 lead, then closed it out on the third match point.
Only once before has Nadal lost a Grand slam match after taking the first two sets. Fabio Fognini pulled off the feat at 2015 U.S Open.
Tsitsipas after the victory said;
I’m speechless, I have no words to describe what just happened on court.
My tennis speaks out for itself. It’s an unbelievable feeling to be able to fight at such a level and just be able to give it my all out on the court.
In today’s performance, I started very nervously, but I don’t know what happened after the third set. I just flew like a little bird and everything was working for me.
I think the emotions at the very end are indescribable, they’re just something else.
His reward is a meeting on Friday with Medvedev, his third Grand Slam semi, with top-ranked Novak Djokovic or Russian qualifier Aslan Karatsev waiting in Sunday’s final.
