Rafael Nadal dug deep into his immense reserves of resilience for the second match running to keep his dream of a 21st Grand Slam title alive at the Australian Open on Tuesday, as women’s top seed Ashleigh Barty powered into a semi-final against Madison Keys.

The ruthless world number one Barty dismantled Jessica Pegula 6-2, 6-0 in 63 minutes to reach the last four at Melbourne Park for only the second time.

“That was solid tonight. I had a lot of fun out here,” said Barty, who is edging closer to becoming the first Australian woman to win her home Grand Slam since Chris O’Neill in 1978.

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