[Music] rafael nadal defies payne and his father's pleas to quit an epic win over taylor fritz spaniard faces curios in semi after 3-6 7-5 3-6 7-5 7-6 4 win nadal the abdominal is not going well it was not easy at all kevin mitchell at wimbledon wednesday july 6 2022 20.45 bst [Music] taylor fritz six feet five inches towering american self-belief did his best to bury a wounded legend here on wednesday but the 36-year-old rafael nadal would not stay down against the advice of his worried father and prevailed over five fluctuating sets to reach his eighth wimbledon semi-final he is a win against nick curios away from the final possibly for a 60th time against novak djokovic and the chance to win his third grand slam title on the spin what a year he's had fritz almost had him in the fourth set but could not finish it and nadal made him pay winning three to six seven to five three to six seven to five seven to six 4 in four hours 20 minutes the fourth longest match of the championships nick curious lies on the ground after defeating chile's christian garrett it would be pretty special nick curious looks ahead to nadal semi-final i enjoy a lot playing this kind of match nadal said it was a tough afternoon against a great player it was not easy at all i'm just very happy to be in the semi-finals the abdominal is not going well i had to find a way to serve a little bit differently for a moment i thought i might not be able to finish the match [Music] nadal said he was going to have some more tests i am used to pain it's nothing new he added i am used to pain it's nothing new relying on his long strong right arm to get into the fight with two aces 129 miles per hour wide and 132 miles per hour down the middle to go with 58 free points that had helped him to enter the quarterfinals fritz still found himself a breakdown inside the first quarter of an hour nadal's opening ace 120 miles per hour down the middle added to his relatively modest tournament total of 28 although he was putting serious revs on his top spun forehand however when fritz broke in the sixth game to get back on serve there was a palpable mood shift fritz 24 came to the championships in good form winning eastbourne he had fresh recollections also of defeating nadal when they last met in the indian wells final but memories are for scrapbooks and each of them had something different to read into their past the spaniard who many thought would never win another wimbledon title after his last one 12 years ago had the incentive of reaching the eighth semi-final here and 38th in all majors not to mention the tantalizing prospect of matching rod laver's calendar grand slam of 1969 those ambitions took a hit in the eighth game when a double fault put him three to five down and fritz punished him with two more aces to take the set nobody saw that coming nadal regrouped quickly cashing in on fritz's and discipline to go 2-0 up in the second but the californian lived up to his pre-match assertion that he would attack without reservation forcing a couple of lazy errors from nadal to get back to parity this was now an impossibly difficult match to read as neither player hit a convincing rhythm it would stay that way pretty much to the end nadal made hard work of it to hold for four to three before leaving the court for attention to either the abdominal injury he refuses to talk about or is chronically painful left foot or both his father sebastian motioned frantically from the player's box to quit nadal ignored him fritz who has hit 136 miles per hour this tournament greeted his return with a couple of sub 100 miles per hour efforts but nadal was unable to do much with even those lollipops something was still not right a hush fell over centre court as nadal went through the motions struggling to serve at more than 100 miles per hour then from nowhere he conjured a break of exquisite subtlety to level it a set of peace nobody saw that coming his mini revival hit an uncomfortable bump when a double fault led to a drop service game at the start of the third however and we were back in the land of serial uncertainty fritz was holding his serve with marginally more ease than the dollar was hanging onto his it was no surprise when the man from san diego forced another loose shot from the doll to go two to one up after two hours ten minutes cameron nori returns the ball during his quarter-final win cameron nori's coach lugonis claims the semi-finalists fitness levels insane [Music] then a further twist or two nadal broke early in the fourth set and held to lead four to two but overcooked a forehand to hand back the advantage of four to four having squandered a break point that would have set him up nadal served to stay in the championships after nearly three hours of fretful struggle at four to five sealing it with his fourth ace of the match