Rafael Nadal's hopes of reaching the semi-finals of the Australian Open got a huge boost with third seed Alexander Zverev's surprise blowout.
The women's side of the draw had two boilovers and now Zverev was the latest big name, going out in straight sets losing 3-6, 6-7, 2-6 to Denis Shapovalov.
The world number three was looking in fine form in Sunday's match after registering a 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 win over Moldova's Radu Albot.
Zverev however was flat out on Sunday and was asked to pay in a match that was expected to be a relatively straight-forward, but in his favour.Alexander Zverev breaks his racquet. (Photo by Mackenzie Sweetnam/Getty Images)
At one point in the first set, the German vented his frustration at his racket as his Australian Open dream was shattered.
Colin Fleming said in commentary for Channel Nine, "Shapavolov attacked, the racket is massively gone from Zverev."
"And of course there's an upset going on now at Margaret Court Arena."
"Yeah, look at the offensive in the racket brake," said Josh Eagle.
"Gotta give her a 10 out of 10 for that because she's one of the best I've ever seen... very cool."Zverev was fuming. (Photo by Mackenzie Sweetnam/Getty Images)
Zverev seemed to have recovered after a strong start in the second set, but the Canadian bounced back and sent it to a tiebreak.
The third seed then returned to the air and was well out, seeing Shapovalov safe in the second set and the Canadian was very good at the end.
Zverev is now 4-15 against top 20 opponents in Grand Slam tournaments.
Shapovalov will now take on Nadal in a match the Spanish star will be heavy on the winning side, clearing the way for the sixth seed to advance to the semi-finals and potentially move all the way.
Nadal has not won the Australian Open since 2009.
On paper, Zverev Nadal would have had a tougher challenge.
Talking about the challenges, Nadal had a very tough test on Sunday.Rafael Nadal has a strong chance to book his spot in the semi-final. (Photo by Aaron FRANCIS / AFP) -
It took almost 30 minutes for Nadal to put a determined Adrian Mannarino in the tiebreaker for the ages.
This broke the French, who offered little resistance from that point on.
There were 11 set points, four for Mannarino and seven for Nadal before the Spaniard eventually converted his seventh to turn the tiebreaker 16–14.
To compare how gruesome the back-and-forth was, Ash Barty's perfect second-round victory over Lucia Bronzetti lasted 52 minutes.
The set lasted 81 minutes.
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