Yes, Rafael Nadal is special on clay, but he’s by no means a “clay-court specialist”—today he battled past Denis Shapovalov, 6-3, 6-4, 4-6, 3-6, 6-3, to not only reach his seventh Australian Open semifinal, but to record his 499th tour-level hard-court win.

He’s won more tour-level matches on hard courts than on any other surface:

NADAL’S CAREER WINS BY SURFACE (tour-level)
~ 499 on hard courts (499-140)
~ 464 on clay (464-43)
~ 71 on grass (71-20)
~ 2 on carpet (2-6)

Nadal is a win away from becoming the fourth man in the Open Era to reach 500 career tour-level wins on hard courts, after Roger Federer (783-155), Novak Djokovic (634-118) and Andre Agassi (592-158).

The Spaniard is also through to the 36th Major semifinal of his career, which is third-most for a man all-time after Federer (46) and Djokovic (42).

Broken down, his 36 career Major semifinals include 7 at the Australian Open, 14 at Roland Garros, 7 at Wimbledon and 8 at the US Open.

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