Australian Open: Rafael Nadal Slams Stefanos Tsitsipas

  On Thursday in the Australian Open semi-final, Rafael Nadal handed rising star Stefanos Tsitsipas a tennis lesson as he drubbed him 6-2, 6-4, 6-0. Tsitsipas, Greek 14th seeded enjoyed a fairytale run to his first Grand Slam last four, including a win over Roger Federer, but found Nadal in ruthless form as he defeated him in 1hr 46min. The Spanish second seed has not dropped his serve for an astonishing 63 straight games and has not lost a set on his way to the final, where he will face either Novak Djokovic or Lucas Pouille.

Nadal told after a breathtaking display of almost perfect tennis, "It's been a great match, a great tournament. I think I have played very well every day. After a lot of months without playing is probably this court, this crowd gives me that unbelievable energy."

The 20-year-old Tsitsipas had been hailed as a new 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.

Nadal's win put him into his fifth Australian Open final and keeps him on course to become the first man to win all four Grand Slams twice in the Open era if he can add to his sole Melbourne Park crown in 2009.

Tsitsipas, in just his second Australian Open and seventh appearance at a Grand Slam, was looking to become the first Greek player -- man or woman -- to reach a final in a major.

Nadal said of the young Greek, who enjoyed a breakthrough in 2018, winning the ATP Tour NextGen Finals, "He has everything to become a multi-Grand Slam champion."

"When at that age he is in the semi-finals that says a lot of good things about him and winning the matches that he won already, so, yeah, I hope to face him in important rounds in the next couple of years, hopefully."

Nadal, who shattered the dreams of two other NextGen stars 19-year-old Alex de Minaur and 21-year-old Frances Tiafoe by jumping all over their serves early, made another immediate statement.

At 1-1 a rasping double-handed backhand and a forehand winner gave him a first break point which the Spaniard duly converted.