Australian Open 2022: 3 things that stood out in Rafael Nadal's semifinal win against Matteo Berrettini
Rafael Nadal beat Matteo Berrettini 6-3, 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 to advance to his sixth Australian Open final on Friday. The Spaniard is now one win away from becoming the first man to lift 21 Grand Slam titles.
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Nadal did not look in any trouble against Berrettini and played a solid match apart from a minor blip in the third set. On that note, here's a look at three things that stood out in Friday's semifinal:
#1 Nadal broke Berrettini early to set the tone for the match
The match was played under a closed roof and the conditions were a lot cooler than Tuesday, when Nadal suffered because of the heat against Denis Shapovalov. The Spaniard took full advantage and raced out of the blocks.
He broke Berrettini in the Italian's first service game and maintained his lead for the rest of the set. The second set mirrored the first as Nadal broke early once again and built on his advantage.
The Italian did not get a single breakpoint opportunity in the first two sets as he struggled to make inroads into Nadal's service games.
#2 Nadal exploited Berrettini鈥檚 weak backhand
Throughout the first two sets, Nadal directed most of the traffic to Berrettini's backhand and had plenty of success.
Nadal played with enough top spin to ensure the ball stayed out of the Italian's hitting zone and he ended up dumping a number of backhands into the net.
At times, Berrettini was forced to resort to backhand slices to slow the pace of the rally, but Nadal pounced with inside-out forehands to win the point.
On occasions, Nadal pinned the Italian to the backhand corner with his crosscourt forehand and then finished the point with a perfect down-the-line forehand winner. Nadal won around 65% of the longer rallies in the first two sets as Berrettini struggled to keep pace with the Spaniard from the back of the court.
#3 Berrettini fought hard, but Nadal never let up
Berrettini tried to rectify his mistakes heading into the third set and started hitting his backhand with more spin to avoid hitting the net. He also served with more venom and attacked more consistently with his forehand, which resulted in him breaking Nadal for the first time in the eighth game of the third set. The Italian then held serve to force a fourth set.
However, Nadal bounced back strongly and broke Berrettini in the eighth game of the fourth set to take a 5-3 lead. He then served out the match without a fuss.
The Italian hit 38 winners, including 14 aces, but they were offset by 39 unforced errors. Nadal, on the other hand, committed only 19 errors.
The Spaniard will take on Daniil Medvedev or Stefanos Tsitsipas in Sunday's final.