Wimbledon: Rafael Nadal survives five-set thriller

London: Rafael Nadal produced another dramatic show on Wednesday at Wimbledon, where the Spaniard held off a high-powered performance from Taylor Fritz to reach the semi-finals in London.

The second seed showcased trademark strength, increasing his aggression to keep points short and delivering a high-class deciding-set tie-break to seal a 3-6, 7-5, 3-6, 7-5, 7-6(10-4) victory.

The 22-time major champion Nadal left the court for a medical timeout in the second set and seemed to be struggling with an abdominal problem midway through the pair’s four-hour, 20-minute quarter-final clash.

“It was a tough afternoon against a great player. All the credit to Taylor, he has been playing great during the whole season. From my personal side, it was not an easy match at all, so I’m just very happy to be in the semi-finals,” said Nadal in his on-court interview as quoted by ATP.

“The body, in general, is fine. In the abdominal [area] it is not going well, to be honest. I had to find a way to serve a little bit differently, for a lot of moments I was thinking maybe I would not be able to finish the match, but I don’t know. The court, the energy [helped me],” he added.

With the hard-fought victory over American Fritz, Nadal set up a semi-final showdown against Australian maverick Nick Kyrgios.

On the other hand, Nick Kyrgios reached his first Grand Slam semi-final on Wednesday, overcoming Cristian Garin in front of a harsh crowd on Court No. 1 at Wimbledon.

Kyrgios overpowered Garin 6-4, 6-3, 7-6(5) with his thunderous ball hitting, while he also showed great touch from all areas of the court to gain the most significant win of his season after two hours and 13 minutes.