Wimbledon 2022 Day 10: Rafael Nadal survives, Simona Halep cruises and Nick Kyrgios makes 1st Grand Slam semifinal
To catch up on all the action from Day 9, click here.
You can find all the results for Day 10 below.
Rafael Nadal survives five-set challenge from Taylor Fritz
Rafael Nadal had to dig deep, but that's where he's found his greatest moments at Wimbledon.
The Spaniard reached his eighth Wimbledon semifinal with a 3-6, 7-5, 3-6, 7-5, 7-6 thriller over American upstart Taylor Fritz, who was seemingly in control of the match before Nadal found his next gear. Nadal will face Nick Kyrgios (more on him below) in the semifinal on Friday.
Nadal started strongly. He went up 3-1 in the first set, then lost the next five games to let Fritz take the set. Then Nadal did almost the same thing in the second set: he jumped out to a 3-0 lead, but let Fritz catch up. It appeared that Nadal was struggling with an injury (the commentators identified it as an abdominal injury), and when he went up 4-3 he finally called for the trainer, disappearing into the locker room for a few minutes of treatment.
When he returned he let Fritz tie the set at 5-5, but then Nadal got a much-needed hold. He appeared to be moving better, and quickly won his seventh game to tie the match at 1-1. Fritz seemingly took back command in the third set, but wilted late in the fourth to let Nadal back into it.
We’re heading to a fifth set‼️
Rafa Nadal fights back and forces a fifth set vs. Taylor Fritz in the #Wimbledon quarterfinals. pic.twitter.com/cEL3vFindG— ESPN (@espn) July 6, 2022
Once the match reached a fifth set, the players exchanged breaks and reached the tiebreaker, where Nadal won the first five points and marched to the win from there. There was plenty for Fritz to regret after five sets, but he is not the first to feel that way after playing Nadal.
Nick Kyrgios makes first Grand Slam semifinal
No player has grabbed more headlines at Wimbledon this year than Nick Kyrgios, and that will continue into the semifinals.
The Australian defeated the unseeded Cristian Garín 6-4, 6-3, 7-6 to advance to his first career Grand Slam semifinal. He had previously reached a Grand Slam quarterfinal only twice, the most recent being the 2015 Australian Open.
The match began with nine straight point wins for Garín, echoing a slow start for Kyrgios from his last match against Brandon Nakashima. Like that match, Kyrgios pulled himself together, and much quicker this time. He again dominated with his serve, hitting 17 aces and winning 73% of first serve points.
It also wouldn't be a Nick Kyrgios match without some sort of outburst or argument. That came on what could have been the final point of the match, when a linesperson made an unusual call during a third-set tiebreaker in which Kyrgios was leading 6-5. Kyrgios vociferously argued with the chair umpire, then won the ensuing point replay to take the match.
A first Grand Slam semi-final ✅@NickKyrgios defeats Cristian Garin 6-4, 6-3, 7-6(5)#Wimbledon pic.twitter.com/irn1vbb7DP
— Wimbledon (@Wimbledon) July 6, 2022
Kyrgios will now enter the semifinal against Nadal, but is still playing under a cloud as of Tuesday, when it emerged he had been charged with assaulting his girlfriend in Australia last year and will be due in court next month.
Halep breezes past Anisimova
Simona Halep survived a late scare to take down Amanda Anisimova, defeating her 6-2, 6-4 in just 63 minutes. Anisimova, the No. 20 seed and the last American woman standing, was not a threat to Halep in the first set, but managed to make a contest in the second set. After going down 5-1, she won three straight games as Halep struggled with her first serve. But Anisimova's comeback fell short as Halep, the No. 16 seed and 2019 Wimbledon champion, recovered to win the match in straight sets.
Make that 12 wins in a row at Wimbledon for @Simona_Halep
The Romanian is yet to drop a set at this year's Championships#Wimbledon | #CentreCourt100 pic.twitter.com/brBHQUk95i— Wimbledon (@Wimbledon) July 6, 2022
Halep, who was emotional during her post-match interview, is looking better on the court than she has in years. This is the first time she's been to a Grand Slam semifinal since 2020, when the COVID-19 shutdown and then an injury slowed her down for the better part of a year. The key to Halep's success may be her new coach, Patrick Mouratoglou, who spent years coaching Serena Williams to success. Mouratoglou split with Williams last year, and Halep snapped him up. On Wednesday, she committed just six unforced errors and won 77% of points on her second serve.
At Wimbledon, Halep has looked confident and decisive as well as calm and composed. She's stayed positive on the court and hasn't been beating herself up about mistakes. Frame of mind is so important for tennis players, and if Halep has silenced those demons, it's hard to see anyone stopping her from taking her second Wimbledon crown.
Rybakina makes history with defeat of Tomljanovic
Elena Rybakina became the first Kazakhstani player to make a Grand Slam semifinal with her 4-6, 6-2, 6-3 defeat of Ajla Tomljanovic on Wednesday. Rybakina, seeded 17th, got into trouble early and struggled to match an aggressive Tomljanovic. The third game of the match, an extended duel with five deuces, ended up being the hinge of the set, with Tomljanovic breaking Rybakina and rolling through the next handful of games to take a 1-0 lead.
With a fresh start in the second set, Rybakina came alive. After tying at two games each, she started to dismantle Tomljanovic. Rybakina won nine of the next 10 games to win the second set and get within one game of winning the third set and the match. Tomljanovic finally answered, winning back-to-back games to stave off elimination, but she couldn't complete the comeback. Rybakina punched her ticket to her first Grand Slam semifinal, hitting 15 aces during the match.
🇰🇿 The first player from Kazakhstan to reach a Grand Slam semifinal 🇰🇿
Elena Rybakina | #Wimbledon pic.twitter.com/Dq4ycqYaS2— wta (@WTA) July 6, 2022
Rybakina has played for Kazakhstan since 2019, but she was born in Russia and still lives in Moscow. Despite Wimbledon's ban on Russian and Belarusian players only due to their nationality and nothing else, it's still possible for a Russian-born player to earn the trophy that her fellow Russian and Belarusian players have been forbidden from seeking.