Matteo Berrettini v Rafael Nadal Betting Tips [28 January 2022]

Rafa Nadal is just two wins from a record 21st Grand Slam title. He faces Matteo Berrettini in the Australian Open semi-final, looking to reach his first final in this tournament since 2019. The Spaniard has been in five previous finals here but his only win was in 2009. Last year was the first time since 2016 that he didn't win a Grand Slam title, not even in Paris. He did miss the last two of the year though and is out to beat that record of 20 wins that he shares with Federer and Djokovic. His comeback tournament earlier this month saw him win in Melbourne, but no top 60 ranked players were beaten. The sixth seed has dropped three sets so far in this tournament. He took the first two against Denis Shapovalov in the quarter final but still had to go to the fifth to get the win. His one previous match against Berrettini was in the 2019 US Open and he won in straight sets.

Berrettini has improved a great deal since then. In that one match against Nadal, he was ranked 25th at the time. The seventh seed is up to sixth in the live rankings. A win here will take him ahead of Nadal into fifth. This is the fourth Grand Slam in a row in which he's reached at least the last eight. Now he bids to make it into his second final, the other being at Wimbledon last year. He's not had the easiest of runs to the last four with only one straight sets win. There have been two five-setters so far and the odds are this match may well be a third. Go for over 39.5 games to be played in this match.