
Alex de Minaur will play Rafael Nadal later. The world No.1 lost to Belgium�s David Goffin in his singles rubber on Friday, before playing doubles and ensuring Spain snuck into the final four.A visibly agitated Nadal then delivered a backhander to ATP Cup organisers, complaining about scheduling after he suffered a rare singles defeat and Spain just scraped through to play Australia in the semi-finals �That�s these three hours� time changing, different weather conditions, playing against a team that have been here for the last ten days, and we are the only team coming from Perth and playing until the last day of Perth and arriving here during the evening with jet lag, with everything.�And today we had very heavy conditions out there, so probably we had the worst situation possible to play this tie.� Rafael Nadal looked uncomfortable in his match. against Belgium�s David Goffin as the move in humidity from Group B�s base in Perth to the latter stages in Sydney appeared to challenge him throughout a shock straight-sets defeat to the admittedly excellent Belgian.Nadal looked better off in his doubles match to decide the tie alongside Pablo Carreno Busta and the pair eventually came through a high-quality match via the championship tiebreak to win their second match of two here together There will be plenty of Australian fans supporting their young and rising star Alex de Minaur as he comes into one of the, if not the biggest, match of his blossoming career. While Rafael Nadal�s defeat by David Goffin proves he is human, it should not be taken lightly. Using Dan Evans as a yardstick here, who beat both Nadal�s conqueror, Goffin, and De Minaur in the quarter-finals, it is more apt to expect Nadal to bounce back from a bad day with a win here. The Spaniard is unlikely to play anywhere near the way he did on court in the quarter-finals, with the immediate doubles decider a useful arena to iron out some issues. Alex de Minaur could take a set off the Spaniard but, assuming Nick Kyrgios edges past a battler like Roberto Bautista Agut, this should end up a Nadal win. It is the doubles where this tie hangs in the balance, and all the unaccountable, immeasurable sporting fates seem to be on the Australian�s side at this tournament. Welcome to our live coverage of the ATP Cup semi-final between Australia and Spain in Sydney.After Team Spain survived a scare in the quarter-finals against Belgium, Aussie captain Lleyton Hewitt and his squad face their biggest challenge to date.Nick Kyrgios will look to continue his impeccable form when he comes up against world No. 10 Roberto Bautista Agut in the first singles rubber.Then, world No. 1 Rafael Nadal will play Australia�s Alex de Minaur in a mouth-watering clash.The winner of this tie will face Serbia in Sunday�s final after Novak Djokovic and Co. defeated Russia 3-0 in today�s other semi. The ATP Cup appears here to stay with most of the sport�s biggest names buying in, $22 million prize money, and precious rankings points up for grabs.Fans have flocked to see the likes of world No.1 Rafael Nadal and 2019 US Open finalist Daniil Medvedev in Perth, seven-times Australian Open champion Novak Djokovic and Australia�s top guns Nick Kyrgios and Alex de Minaur in Brisbane, and now Sydney. Nadal, Djokovic and Kyrgios and de Minaur lighting up the finals has also played a major part in the ATP Cup proving a big hit.Tennis Australia�s head of performance Wally Masur believes it was a masterstroke from TA chief executive Craig Tiley to reshape the calendar. He believes no other country could host the event and draw such spirited fan support than multi-cultural Australia.
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