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maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 23 JANUARY 2019 23 SPORTS AUSTRALIAN OPEN Answers to the MaltaToday crossword will be published next Wednesday Weather Mostly cloudy with isolated showers, locally thundery, gusty and with hail at times, becoming partly cloudy Visibility Good except in some showers Wind West to Northwest force 3, becoming North Northwest force 4 to 5 Sea Moderate becoming moderate to rough TODAY TOMORROW Weather Crossword Across 9. Not proper (13) 10. Weep (3) 11. Necessary (7) 12. Underground part of a plant (4) 13. Agitate (4) 15. Monetary unit of Saudi Arabia (5) 17. Corridor (7) 19. Accustom (5) 21. Finish first (3) 23. Long (5) 24. Against (7) 25. Chaff (5) 27. Membership fees (4) 28. Goad (4) 30. Capital of Iraq (7) 32. Contend (3) 33. Prekindergarten (7,6) Down 1. Written history of a person's life (9) 2. Courtyard (5) 3. Duration (4) 4. Beer made at home (4-4) 5. Cunning (6) 6. Metal fastener (4) 7. Pruning shears (9) 8. Aviator (5) 14. Threads (5) 16. Speaks with impediment (5) 18. Something stated (9) 20. Tolerable (9) 22. These days (8) 26. Tattered (6) 27. Sofa (5) 29. Hinge (5) 30. Obstructs (4) 31. Wharf (4) THUNDERY SHOWERS UV: 2 THUNDERY SHOWERS UV: 2 14 0 / 9 0 14 0 / 9 0 Rafael Nadal beats Frances Tiafoe SECOND seed Rafael Nadal eased past unseeded Ameri- can Frances Tiafoe to reach the Australian Open semi-finals and continue his bid to win all four Grand Slams for a second time. The 32-year-old Spaniard cracked 29 winners in a 6-3 6-4 6-2 victory. Nadal broke 21-year-old Tiafoe in each of his first service games of the set. The 17-time Grand Slam champion will play Stefanos Tsitsipas in the last four after the 20-year-old Greek beat Spain's Roberto Bautista Agut. "It is emotional to be back in the semi-finals," said Nadal, who retired injured in his quarter-fi- nal against Marin Cilic last year. "I had some troubles in this event so, after a while of not playing, to be back in the semi- final means a lot to me. I feel very lucky to be where I am after all the troubles I've been through." Nadal, who did have to stave off two break points at 2-1 in the second set, has not dropped a set as he aims to become the first man to win each of the four Grand Slams twice in the Open era. Despite reaching at least the quarter-finals in 11 of his past 12 appearances, including four finals, he has only converted one of these runs into victory - his sole triumph at Melbourne Park in 2009. And, despite not playing com- petitively since September's US Open because of multiple inju- ries, he has cruised through his opening five matches. Tiafoe, who celebrated his 21st birthday by reaching his maiden Grand Slam quarter-final on Sunday, could not cope with Na- dal's quality and intensity. He had spent almost 12 hours on court coming into the match - more than three hours longer than Nadal - including his four- set wins over Wimbledon final- ist Kevin Anderson and former world number three Grigor Dimitrov. Nadal broke again for a 5-2 lead in the third, going on to serve out victory in one hour and 47 min- utes. The Spaniard used his trade- mark forehand to great effect, particularly down the line, hit- ting 13 winners on that side. "The serve and winner with the first forehand is something very important for me, very impor- tant today, but also very impor- tant if I want to keep playing for a few years," he said. "It has given me a lot of free points and that is so important at this stage of my career." Tsitsipas, 20, followed his last-16 victory over defend- ing champion Roger Federer with another four-set win over Spain's Roberto Bautista Agut earlier yesterday. Nadal has beaten the Greek in straight sets in both of their pre- vious meetings - in ATP finals on clay in Barcelona and the To- ronto hard-court last year. "It is going to be a great year to be sharing generations, that's what makes this sport special - let's see what happens," Nadal said. "During the last year he has been improving every month. He has already won a tourna- ment and now in the semi-finals and able to win against best play- ers in the world. "He is unbelievable today but he has the chance to be one of the best for a long time." Rafael Nadal fired down 11 aces in his victory over Frances Tiafoe