A relentless game was played between Greece’s tennis star Stefanos Tsitsipas and Rafael Nadal at the Rod Laver Arena on Wednesday which saw the Greek star emerge a winner.
The 22-year-old Greek became only the third player to beat Nadal from two sets to love down.
Nadal took the first set 6-3, giving Tsitsipas a reminder of how little margin for error he had. The Spaniard later took the second set 6-2 and locked the third set at 4-4 before the tie breaker, giving Tsitsipas a chance to keep the match alive.
The win seemed a fait accompli for Nadal but the 22-year-old Greek player managed to take the tie breaker and took the third set at 6-7 causing the Spaniard to lose a set for the first time in this tournament. Nadal made some errors in this set, including two missed overheads.
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In the fourth set, Nadal led 1-0, but after brilliant play from Nadal, Tsitsipas managed to break 5-4 in the fourth set.
Having leveled at two sets all, Tsitsipas and Nadal continued to play after 11pm in the fifth set with Nadal leading the way, 1-0 and holding the lead until a 5-5 tiebreaker.
Astonishingly, Tsitsipas broke Nadal to Love and served for the match 6-5 in the final set and took the game at 7-5 shortly before midnight.
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Nadal has won four grand slam titles and has made four finals at Melbourne Park, however it has been 12 years since he had won the Australian Open.
Crowds are set to return to the Australian Open for the semi finals on Thursday following an announcement made by Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews on Wednesday morning. He said fans would be welcome back at Melbourne Park but it remained unclear how many spectators would be allowed to attend.