Rafael Nadal after entering Australian Open final: This is unexpected

Spaniard Nadal crushes Tsitsipas 6-2, 6-4, 6-0 in semis; says he is surprised to reach final having come here after ankle surgery

Rafael Nadal said he has surprised himself with his outstanding level of tennis at this year's Australian Open after crushing Stefanos Tsitsipas in the semi-final yesterday. The Spanish World No. 2 handed the rising star a ruthless tennis lesson 6-2, 6-4, 6-0 in just 106 minutes.

Greek 14th seed Tsitsipas had enjoyed a fairytale run to his first Grand Slam last four, including a win over Roger Federer, but found Nadal in ruthless form in the Spaniard's first tournament since the US Open in September. "It's not easy to be back after four, five months, and play the way I am playing," he said after undergoing ankle surgery in his extended off-season.

"Of course, I didn't expect that at all," Nadal said after setting up a final on Sunday against either top seed Novak Djokovic or Lucas Pouille. "I believe that when you are older, you lose less in tennis when you are playing less. You don't need that many matches to play well. That's something that has happened in the last two years to me."

The Spanish second seed has not dropped his serve for an astonishing 63 straight games and has not lost a set. "I played well, of course. I've been playing well during the whole event. Every match more or less I think I did a lot of things well. Tonight was another one," he said after a breathtaking display of almost perfect tennis. "Probably the backhand was better today than the rest of the days.

That's important for me too, because the forehand was working fantastic during the whole week, week-and-a-half, but the backhand was improving during the tournament. Tonight was better than the previous rounds, no?" he added.

Tsitsipas, 20, had been hailed as a new young Greek god of tennis after beating Federer, but his ascent to the summit of his personal Olympus was comprehensively halted by the colossus called Nadal. Tsitsipas was looking to become the first Greek player — man or woman — to reach a final in a major. "He has everything to become a multi-Grand Slam champion," Nadal said graciously of the young Greek, who enjoyed a breakthrough 2018, winning the ATP Tour NextGen Finals.

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