WIMBLEDON, England — Rafael Nadal kept his calendar Grand Slam dream alive Wednesday but it took everything he had.
The Spaniard beat American Taylor Fritz in a fifth-set tie-breaker 10-4 in a grueling match that consumed four hours, 21 minutes.
Nadal, winner of the Australian and French opens, moves on to a Wimbledon semifinal showdown with Australian Nick Kyrgios, who glided to victory earlier in the day with a straight-sets victory over Chile's Cristian Garin — a match that required about half the time of Nadal-Fritz.
Nadal won 3-6, 7-5, 3-6, 7-5, 7-6 (4). He was in such pain with an abdomen injury early in the match that he later said he had come close to calling it quits. In fact, his father was urging him from the player's box to call it a day.
"For a lot of moments I was thinking maybe I might not be able to finish the match," Nadal said afterward. "But the court, the energy was something else."
He is looking to become the first man since 1969 to complete a calendar Grand Slam, winning all four major championships in the same year. Rod Laver was the last man to accomplish the feat.
