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[이데일리 스타in 이석무 기자] Rafael Nadal (World No. 5, Spain) and Dani Medvedev (No. 2, Russia) will face off in the men’s singles final of the Australian Open (total prize of 75 million Australian dollars, about 64.4 billion won).
Nadal defeated Matteo Beretini (7th place, Italy) with a set score of 3-1 (6-3 6-2 3-6 6-3) in the men’s singles semifinal match held in Melbourne, Australia on the 28th.
Nadal, who has won a total of 20 championships in the four major championships and holds the joint first place with Novak Djokovic (No. caught
This is the sixth time Nadal has reached the Australian Open final. However, the only win was in 2009. In 2012, 2014, 2017, and 2019, they were all runners-up. In 2012 and 2019, they lost to Novak Djokovic (1st place, Serbia), and in 2017 they lost to Roger Federer (17th place, Switzerland). In 2014, he lost to the ambush Stanislas Wavrinka (82nd place, Switzerland) and missed the championship.
It was the first time in three years since 2019 that they reached the final, and they were eliminated in the quarterfinals in both competitions after that.
Nadal’s opponent in the final was Medvedev. In the semi-finals that followed, Medvedev defeated Stefanos Tsicipas (4th, Greece) with a set score of 3-1 (7-6 4-6 6-4 6-1) and won the final ticket.
Medvedev, who is attracting attention as the next-generation runner after Federer, Djokovic and Nadal ‘Big 3’, is the third major tournament finalist this time.
At the 2021 U.S. Open, he won his first and only major championship. On the other hand, at last year’s Australian Open, they lost to Djokovic and finished runners-up.
Nadal and Medvedev have met a total of 4 times so far, with Nadal leading with 3 wins and 1 loss. However, in their most recent match against Medvedev in the 2020 ATP Finals, Nadal lost 2-1.
In the major tournament, Nadal played one match at the 2019 U.S. Open, and Nadal struggled to win after a full set battle.
