Nadal defies injury to reach eighth Wimbledon semi-final

Rafael Nadal has defied injury to beat Taylor Fritz and reach the Wimbledon semi-finals for an eighth time, keeping alive his dream of a calendar Grand Slam.

The second seed lost the first set and had to take a medical time-out in the second but raised his game to win 3-6, 7-5, 3-6, 7-5, 7-6 (10/4) in a match lasting four hours and 21 minutes.

Nadal, a 22-time Grand Slam champion, will play Nick Kyrgios for a place in Sunday's final.

Nadal extended his unbeaten mark in Grand Slam matches in 2022 to 19-0 as he seeks to add a trophy at Wimbledon to his triumphs at the Australian Open in January, then the French Open in June. 

For everything that he’s accomplished, the 36-year-old Spaniard never has won the first three Slam titles of a season.

Halep advances

On Friday, Nadal will meet Nick Kyrgios, a 27-year-old Australian who will be making his Grand Slam semifinal debut after a 6-4, 6-3, 7-6 (5) victory over Cristian Garin of Chile.

The other men’s semifinal will be No. 1 Novak Djokovic against No. 9 Cam Norrie.

The women’s semifinals Thursday will be 2019 champion Simona Halep against No. 17 Elena Rybakina, and No. 3 Ons Jabeur against unseeded Tatjana Maria.

Halep advanced by eliminating No. 20 Amanda Anisimova of the United States 6-2, 6-4, and Ryba kina came back to defeat Ajla Tomljanovic 4-6, 6-2, 6-3.

Nadal leads Kyrgios 6-3 in their head-to-head series, but they are even at 1-all at Wimbledon: Kyrgios, just 19 and ranked 144th, announced himself to the world by stunning Nadal in 2014; Nadal won the rematch in 2019.

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