'No way': Tennis world erupts over 'ridiculous' Rafa Nadal moment

Rafael Nadal never ceases to amaze.

The World No.3 stormed into a 14th Barcelona Open semi-final on Friday with a straight-sets demolition of Cameron Norrie.

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Seeking a record-extending 12th title at the clay-court event, Nadal completely outplayed his British opponent in a 6-1, 6-4 victory.

And nothing summed up Nadal's dominance more than an absurd winner in the first set.

Afer Norrie forced Nadal way off court with a swinging first serve, the Spaniard produced an incredible winner from an almost impossible angle.

"No way has he made that," one commentator said on Tennis TV.

"That is absolutely ridiculous."

Fans were also left in awe over Nadal's "unbelievable" winner.

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Nadal, who captured his first Barcelona title as an 18-year-old at the 2005 tournament, will face Pablo Carreno Busta in Saturday's semi-finals.

Top seed Nadal broke World No.58 Norrie twice in both sets for his second win of the year over the Briton, having also defeated him in straight sets in the third round of the Australian Open.

Nadal was beaten by Andrey Rublev in the Monte Carlo quarter-finals last week and had dropped a set to both Belarusian qualifier Ilya Ivashka and Kei Nishikori in his first two matches here.

"I played well at the beginning then I stopped a little bit in the second," said Nadal.

"I need to hold the level of intensity for the whole match when it comes to the semi-final."

The Spaniard has now won his last 18 matches against left-handed players since losing to Denis Shapovalov in Montreal four years ago.

He also became the first player in the Open era to win 450 matches on two different surfaces.

Carreno Busta recovered from a 5-2 deficit in the final set against Diego Schwartzman to dump out the Argentine 6-4, 3-6, 7-5 in the day's last quarter-final.

Meanwhile, Stefanos Tsitsipas swept aside Felix Auger-Aliassime, the Canadian who recently teamed up with Toni Nadal, the uncle and former coach of the 20-time grand slam winner.

Greek second seed Tsitsipas, fresh off his first Masters 1000 crown in Monte Carlo, extended his winning run to eight matches with a 6-3, 6-3 victory.

with agencies

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