Injured Nadal Survives Five-Set Thriller To Advance To Wimbledon Semifinal

Rafael Nadal's quest to win the calendar Grand Slam is still in play. 

The winner of the Australian and French Open survived a five-set classic against American Taylor Fritz, winning 3-6 7-5 3-6 7-5 7-6 (10-4). 

Nadal, battling an injured abdomen all day long, forced a fifth-set tiebreak, beating Fritz 10-4 to advance to the semifinals against Nick Kyrgios on Friday. 

“I honestly enjoy playing these kind of matches in front of all of you guys,” Nadal said to the crowd after the match. "I can’t thank you – everybody – enough. It was a tough afternoon against a great player.” 

Nadal alluded to almost having to withdraw from the match due to his injury.

“In the abdominal something isn’t going well,” Nadal said. “I had 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.”

The man awaiting Nadal in the semifinals – Krygios – defeated Cristian Garin on Wednesday in straight sets. 

"I thought my ship had sailed,'' Krygios said Wednesday, via ESPN. "Obviously, I didn't go about things great early in my career and may have wasted that little window. But just really proud of the way I've just come back out here.''

No. 1 seed Novak Djokovic will take on No. 9 seed Cameron Norrie in the other semifinal.