Denis Shapovalov, the last left-hander who managed to defeat Nadal

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Minutes after

got rid of

to guarantee his place in the quarterfinals of the Australian Open,

culminated the triumph against

, number three in the world. In this way, the Spaniard, who is three wins away from achieving his second title at the Australian Open and, with it, his twenty-first Grand Slam, the one that would leave him alone on the heights, with one more than

and

will once again have a southpaw on the other side of the net, once Mannarino's initial push was stifled.

Contrary to what might be supposed, due to the loss of the advantage that his

encounters with his opponent's backhand, Nadal has an excellent balance against players of his kind. In the Grand Slam tournaments he has 33 wins and only three losses against left-handers. Only

, on two occasions, Wimbledon 2005 and Wimbledon 2017, and

, in the first round of the 2016 Australian Open, have managed to beat him. In fact, throughout his career, he has 121 wins and only 16 losses.

The one achieved against Mannarino was the twenty-first in a row against a zocato.

You have to travel to the round of 16 of the 2017 Montreal Masters 1000 to find a left-handed racket-wielding man capable of surprising you.

It was none other than Shapovalov, at the dawn of a career that has so far not responded to the promises suggested.

Two match points

semifinal at Wimbledon last summer

. At 22, this cheerful and aggressive tennis player, born in Tel Aviv and the son of Russian-Israeli citizens, has time ahead of him, but his irregularity has not yet allowed him to establish himself among the avant-garde group. "Nadal makes you play a lot because he has a great defense. I expect a great battle," he said after beating Zverev.

Winner in Stockholm, in 2019, of his only title, he has an adverse 3-1 in the face to face with Nadal, but, in addition to the aforementioned victory in Canada, when he was a teenager, last year, in the round of 16 of the Masters 1000 in Rome, he had two match points before giving up in three sets.

They have never crossed paths in a tournament of this category, where Nadal's favorite condition is widened.

Shapovalov, at the service during his match against Zverev.AP

A victim of the coronavirus, Shapovalov had to quarantine and was a doubt for the tournament, until he was finally able to play even the ATP Cup. After breaking his relationship with

, he

has just sat

, the former British player who he worked at the time alongside

.

"He has a lot of potential and is difficult to stop when he is well," Nadal said about his next opponent, whose peculiarities also include playing with a one-handed backhand.

Throughout his career, Nadal has won 307 matches and has lost 69 against opponents of this nature.

The last one who defeated him was, in 2021, in the quarterfinals of the tournament,

, who also lifted two adverse sets.

Champion in 2009 and four times finalist, Nadal has lost the last two years in the round that he will have to face tomorrow.

In 2020 he lost in four sets to Austrian

.

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