(Tennis news) Rafael Nadal overcame Taylor Fritz 3-6 7-5 3-6 7-5 7-6 in four hours and 20 minutes to reach the Wimbledon semi-finals. The Spaniard had an injury scare during the match, appearing to struggle with an abdominal strain and was on the verge of withdrawing while Taylor Fritz also had a thigh issue. Having already won the Australian and French Open, Nadal will now set his sights on his next opponent Nick Kyrgios and will be looking to secure passage into the finals and extend his 22 Grand Slam record.

Speaking after the match, Nadal said “The body in general is fine, of course in the abdominal area something is not going well, to be honest. I have to find a way to serve a little bit different. For a lot of moments I was thinking maybe I will not be able to finish the match. I hope to be ready to play. That's the first thing. Then, Nick is a great player on all surfaces but especially here on grass. He's having a great grass-court season. It's going to be a big challenge, I'm going to need to be at 100 per cent to have chances and that's what I'm going to try to do."

In the other quarter-final match, Nick Kyrgios defeated Cristian Garin 6-4 6-3 7-6. The Australian was playing in a Grand Slam quarter-final for the first time since the 2015 Australian Open and produced a measured performance to defeat his Chilean opponent in straight sets. Speaking after the match, Kyrgios said “I just never thought I'd be at the semi-final of a Grand Slam, I thought my ship had sailed. I maybe should have done things a little different early in my career and maybe wasted that window a bit. Just really proud of the way I've come out here and been able to put on a performance."

It was Garin who broke Kyrgios’ serve in the opening set of the match but the Australian went on to break Garin’s serve twice after that, saving eight of his opponent's nine break-point chances to secure victory in two hours and 11 minutes. Kyrgios had a total of 17 aces in the match which was integral to his straightforward victory on Court 1. "I felt like I was playing on the back-foot a lot," Kyrgios added. "He's a hell of a player, he's obviously feeling very confident, hell of a tournament from him to make the quarter-finals. I felt I was on the back-foot, got lucky on a couple of break points here and there, it could have easily been him standing here, so I'll just take that and prepare for my next match." 

Also read: Wimbledon: Cameron Norrie to face Novak Djokovic in the semi-final