Rafael Nadal has entered his 29th Grand Slam final after beating Matteo Berrettini in the semi-final at Australian Open 2022. The Spaniard is unbeaten so far this season. He lifted the Melbourne Summer Set title in the run-up to the Slam and dominated each of his opponents en route to the title.

Further, he has continued his winning momentum into the opening Grand Slam of the season. Nadal is into his sixth Australian Open final, having lifted the title once in 2009. He defeated the Italian Matteo Berrettini 6-3, 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 to book his place in the finals.

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The Spaniard gets emotional as he enters the Australian Open 2022 final

After not playing for six months with a career-threatening foot injury, Nadal has started the year with 9 wins, 0 losses. After winning the semifinal encounter, Nadal got emotional, perhaps as the magnitude of his achievement hit the Spaniard.

Rafael Nadal is a step away from claiming a record-breaking 21st Grand Slam title

The Spaniard started the game on the front foot as he broke Berrettini’s serve in his very first service game to claim a 2-0 lead in the first set, which eventually proved to be decisive. Nadal played to his strengths and forced the Italian into making errors. Berrettini committed as many as 14 unforced errors in the opening set as against the Spaniard’s 5.

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The set proceeded with both the players holding their serves. Nadal was dominant on his serves and did not face a single breakpoint in the first set. Even though the 20-time Grand Slam champion squandered 3 set points in the final game of the first set, he won the set comfortably in the end, 6-3.

Set 2 started in a similar fashion with Nadal breaking Berrettini’s serve twice initially to claim a 3-0 lead. The Spaniard dominated the game and gave his Italian opponent little breathing space. Moreover, Berrettini’s unforced errors didn’t help his cause as he looked to have no answers against the Spanish legend. The 35-year-old eventually won the second set 6-2.

The Italian started the third set much better and kept a check on his errors. He attacked Nadal’s serve well and forced the Spaniard into making errors. Berrettini broke the Spaniard’s serve in the eighth game and eventually won the third set 6-3. This was Matteo’s first ever break against Nadal.

The fourth set began similarly to the third, with Berrettini pushing hard to break Nadal’s serve. However, the Spaniard crashed the Italian’s hopes as he broke the seventh seed’s serve in the eighth game of the fourth set. Nadal eventually sealed the match by winning the fourth set 6-3.

The sixth seed has been involved in a mixture of straight-forward and marathon victories en route to the final. While Nadal started his campaign with easy victories in the first two rounds, he was stretched to four sets against Karen Khachanov in the third round. Next, he won a thrilling quarterfinal against Denis Shapovalov in five sets. Nadal has used his experience to win points at crucial junctures to book a place in the finals. He will face the winner of Daniil Medvedev vs Stefanos Tsitsipas in the finals.

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Can Rafael Nadal create history and win a record-breaking 21st Grand Slam title? Do let us know your views in the comments below.