Australian Open: Rafael Nadal has stomach for it!

An ailing Rafael Nadal said he was ldquodestroyed physicallyrdquo by his gritty fiveset quarterfinal win over Denis Shapovalov at the Australian Open on TuesdayBut the Spanish great still managed to move to within two matches of a record 21st Grand Slam title with an incredible display of guts and resilience against the talented 22yearoldThe sixth seed edged the Canadian 14th seed 63 64 46 36 63 in 4 hours eight minutes of thrilling action on Rod Laver Arena ldquoI was honestly destroyed physically But my serve worked well and for me every game that I was winning with my serve was a victoryrdquo said Nadal who will have two days to recuperate before Fridayrsquos semifinals ldquoBeing in semifinals means a lot to me and to have a victory against a great player after all the things that I went through so itrsquos an amazing news Irsquom super happyrdquolsquoNot chasing the recordrsquoIt will be Nadalrsquos seventh semifinal in Melbourne Nadal is tied with great rivals Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer on 20 Grand Slams but with Djokovic deported and Federer injured the opportunity is there for him to go clear at the topNadal said he was not consumed by going after the record ldquoFor me the fact that we are equal at 20 itrsquos just the only thing that says we share an amazing part of the history of our sport and for me itrsquos a real honour to be part of itrdquo he said ldquoLetrsquos enjoy the situation that we did every one of us we did very special things in our sport Letrsquos enjoy that Doesnrsquot matter the other thingrdquoNadal raced into a twoset lead but was visibly hampered by stomach issues before eventually coming through after a spirited fightback from ShapovalovMedical attentionldquoI started to feel not well in my stomach They checked everything was all right with my bodyrdquo said Nadal who received medical attention in the fourth set ldquoI took some tablets to try and improve my stomachrdquoNadal looked on course for a routine straight sets win before Shapovalov hit back to take the quarterfinal into a thrilling decidingset climax The Spaniard broke in Shapovalovrsquos opening service game and held on to take the victoryThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever