By Richard Pagliaro | Tuesday, January 22, 2019
An overwhelming Rafael Nadal outclassed Frances Tiafoe, 6-3, 6-4, 6-2, rampaging into his 30th career Grand Slam semifinal at the Australian Open.
Photo credit: Mark Peterson/Corleve
Rocketing forehands with vigor, Rafael Nadal jolted the generation gap in Melbourne.
Breaking in the opening service game of each set, an overwhelming Nadal outclassed Frances Tiafoe, 6-3, 6-4, 6-2, rampaging into his 30th career Grand Slam semifinal at the Australian Open.
Watch: Tsitsipas' Charges Into AO Semifinals
Playing dynamic combinations from the outset, Nadal dominated this first meeting with the talented American dismissing Tiafoe two days after his 21st birthday on Sunday.
Nadal displaced Tiafoe with a sharp first-serve, first-strike attack setting up a blockbuster semifinal with 20-year-old Stefanos Tsitsipas, the youngest man still standing in the field.
The 14th-seeded Greek backed up his upset of defending champion Roger Federer beating Roberto Bautista Agut, 7-5, 4-6, 6-4, 7-6 (2) to charge into his first Grand Slam semifinal.
"For me, it's very emotional to be back in semifinals here in Melbourne," Nadal told John McEnroe afterward. "I had some problems in this event during my career so after a while without playing to be back in the semifinal means everything to me. So I just want to say thank you very much everybody. To be able to play on this court is so special and also very happy with the way I played tonight."
The second-seeded Spaniard served 74 percent, smacked 11 aces, won 84 percent of his first-serve points and denied both break points he faced in a one hour, 47-minute dismissal.
In this, his first tournament since he hobbled out of the 2018 US Open semifinals, Nadal has made the blue Melbourne court look like his old stomping grounds.
The ruthlessly efficient 2009 Australian Open champion has not surrendered a set nor extended on court longer than two hours, 22 minutes in charging into his sixth Australian Open semifinal.
"I'm just very happy," Nadal said. "I feel lucky to be where I am after all the things I went through to be able to keep competing at this level. That's why I wake up every morning and I go on court or I go to the gym with a goal to be a better player."
The explosive Tiafoe exuded grit and guts toppling fifth-seeded Kevin Anderson and former semifinalist Grigor Dimitrov en route to his first major quarterfinal.
The 39th-ranked Tiafoe is one of few men who can run with the 11-time Roland Garros champion, but Nadal shrewdly spread the court forcing the American to counter on the run.
Often, Tiafoe did not put enough air on his running drives which expired in net or met malice in Nadal's strike zone.
The twisting topspin Nadal imparts gunked up the gears of Tiafoe's timing in the early stages.
"It was tough," Tiafoe said. "It was tough definitely. I mean, he's a hell of a player, man. Yeah, I mean, his ball is kicking up like crazy.
"Court was really slow. Yeah, it was just tough to really hit the room. I felt like I was hitting a lot of balls long early. Probably overplaying. I got in a decent rhythm there for a hot sec, but he's just tough and he's played on that court, so he's more comfortable than me."
Unleashing his twisting topspin forehand, Nadal whipped 14 of his 28 winners from the forehand.
"I said a couple of rounds ago that they can wait a little bit, but it looks like they don't want to wait," Nadal joked of the NextGen stars. "They are there. Frances in the quarterfinals, Stefanos in the semifinals so it's gonna be a great year in terms of sharing the generations that makes this sport special. That will be interesting, let's see what happens."