Grand Slam-chasing Rafael Nadal battled his way past an abdominal injury and a beleaguered Taylor Fritz 3-6 7-5 3-6 7-5 7-6 (10-4) to reach the semi-finals of the 2022 Wimbledon Championships on Wednesday.
Nadal did not take long to find his feet as an overhead smash saw him break Fritz's serve in the opening game, but at 3-1 down, the American remarkably won five games on the bounce to take the first set with three consecutive aces.
After Fritz managed to get the second set back on serve, Nadal would appear to struggle with an issue in the abdominal area and was forced to leave the court for treatment at 4-3 to the good.
Nadal picked up the racquet following his medical timeout and managed to take the second set after a wonderful variety of shots in the 12th game, levelling the scores with a backhand volley at the net.
It was Fritz's turn to call the trainer over in the third set, but he nevertheless broke Nadal twice to edge ahead in the match before the Spaniard ensured that a fifth set would be on the cards, and Nadal dominated the tie-break to win with a powerful cross-court drive before admitting his concern over his injury in the post-match interview.
Meanwhile, Nick Kyrgios entered his quarter-final with Chile's Cristian Garin after an allegation of assault against an ex-girlfriend, but the Australian made it through in straight sets 6-4 6-3 7-6 [7-5] for his first Grand Slam semi-final.
Garin would draw first blood with the first break in the opening set, but the big-serving Kyrgios was able to claw his way back into the encounter and won the first set following some long returns from the Chilean.
Despite some crowd interruptions, Kyrgios ploughed through to move 4-1 up in the second set and level proceedings, and a wide backhand from Garin in the third-set tie-break would send Kyrgios into the semi-finals - the Australian collapsed to the ground to rapturous applause from the crowd.
Two-time Grand Slam winner Simona Halep would seemingly cruise through to the semi-finals against the USA's Amanda Anisimova, but she was forced to fend off a miraculous comeback from the 20-year-old to win 6-2 6-4.
Despite beginning the match with a simple hold to love, Anisimova would suffer a five-game losing streak to the ruthless Halep, who took the first set with only 30 minutes gone after a double break.
The Romanian dazzled with an 80% win percentage on her second serves in the first set, whereas Anisimova's unforced error count was already in the double figures before Halep broke for a 2-1 lead in the second set.
The 2019 champion swiftly won the next three games to inch ever closer to a semi-final berth at 5-1 up, but Anisimova would force her to serve out the match after letting out some frustration onto her chair.
However, the American would quickly find herself 40-0 up on the Halep serve and earned an unexpected break before holding, but Anisimova would then squander three more break points at 4-5 and ultimately bowed out following a long backhand.
During the other women's quarter-final on Wednesday, Alja Tomljanovic got off to a dream start against 17th seed Elena Rybakina, but the latter recovered to triumph 4-6 6-2 6-3.
Tomljanovic found the early break as Rybakina took a while to warm up her serves, and the Australian held convincingly to force her opponent to do it the hard way.
Rybakina would soon establish her dominance on the court to take the second set and move 5-1 up in the third, but as was the case with Halep, she was broken while attempting to serve for the match.
Rybakina impressively saved three break points to bring the game to deuce, but a long forehand kept Tomljanovic's run going that little bit longer before the 17th seed breezed through her next service game to advance to the final four with an ace. body check tags ::
