Rafael Nadal beaten in quarter-finals of comeback tennis tournament

BRISBANE – Rafael Nadal’s Australian Open preparations took a blow when the Spaniard was shocked by local favourite Jordan Thompson at the Brisbane International quarter-finals on Jan 5.

Thompson saved three match points before prevailing 5-7, 7-6 (8-6), 6-3 over Nadal, who was playing his first tournament after nearly a year out with a hip injury.

“He played a good match. For me, it was not the best match, I had a lot of opportunities to win it. I need to accept that. After a year (of not playing), that’s normal,” Nadal said.

Having won the opener and leading 6-4 in the second-set tiebreak, he was on the verge of victory before Thompson staged a remarkable comeback and went on to win in nearly 3½ hours.

Thompson broke Nadal in the fourth game of the final set and was 4-1 up when the 37-year-old Spaniard left the court on a medical time-out after feeling discomfort in the same hip area, which had kept him out of action.

Nadal returned to court and continued without too much apparent discomfort, but was unable to stop Thompson. After his loss, the 22-time Grand Slam champion spoke about his injury but said he wouldn’t know how bad it was until the next day.

“A lot of things can happen in a body like my body after a year without playing tennis. So, hopefully, it is just a muscle that is supercharged,” he said.

Thompson will next face second seed Grigor Dimitrov, who overcame Rinky Hijikata 6-1, 6-4 in the semi-finals.

“To beat Rafa in Brisbane in quarter-finals, I think this is my first semi-finals on a hard court as well. I could not be happier,” Thompson said.

The other last-four clash will be contested by world No. 8 Holger Rune and Roman Safiullin.

In the women’s draw, Aryna Sabalenka fired a warning ahead of her Australian Open defence by powering into the semi-finals with a straight-set demolition of fifth seed Daria Kasatkina.

Sabalenka’s 6-1, 6-4 victory was her 14th consecutive win on Australian soil, after also claiming the Adelaide crown in the lead-up to 2023’s opening Grand Slam.

The Belarusian raced through the first set against the Russian in 32 minutes, but had to fight harder in the second, breaking Kasatkina once and winning in 1hr 26min.

“I had to be focused from the start because if I gave her any opportunities, she was going to put me under pressure. So I just tried to stay focused and play my best on every point,” said the world No. 2.

Sabalenka will now play fellow Belarusian Victoria Azarenka, with a 2023 Australian Open final replay against second seed Elena Rybakina a possibility for the decider on Jan 7.

Two-time Australian Open winner Azarenka took 2hr 30min before outlasting third-seeded Latvian Jelena Ostapenko 6-3, 3-6, 7-5 at Pat Rafter Arena.

“I thought the quality of tennis was incredible. She was blasting returns, blasting winners, so I had to stick in there. I was looking forward to seeing how my game was going to match up this year, and I think it’s pretty good,” Azarenka said.

In New Zealand, Coco Gauff continued the ruthless defence of her Auckland Classic title with a 6-1, 6-1 trouncing of Varvara Gracheva to set up a semi-final against fellow American Emma Navarro.

“I thought I served really well, probably the best so far at this tournament, which is something I was really working on in the off-season,” top seed Gauff said.

Navarro added of Gauff: “She’s an insane athlete. She covers the court super well and is really solid in her whole game. There are no holes in her game.”

Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina later dispatched Marie Bouzkova 6-0, 6-3 to ensure the tournament’s two top seeds advanced on a day in which rain played havoc with the quarter-finals.

Said Svitolina: “It was a great performance from me and I’m surprised how many people are still here. I wanted to make it short and sharp, so I’m happy with my level that I could actually win and not expend too much energy.”

The three-time Grand Slam semi-finalist will next face China’s Wang Xiyu, who beat Diane Parry 6-7 (3-7), 6-3, 6-4 in a clash of two unseeded players.

Meanwhile, World No. 5 Andrey Rublev survived a huge scare to reach the semi-finals of the Hong Kong Open, as third seed Frances Tiafoe was stunned by a Chinese teenager.

Rublev came through 6-4,1-6, 6-2 against 19-year-old Frenchman Arthur Fils in a roller-coaster 1hr 52min of highly entertaining tennis at Victoria Park. The Russian top seed will face another teenager in the last four after Shang Juncheng breezed past world No. 10 Tiafoe 6-4, 6-4. AFP, REUTERS