THREE TUMBLE ON TUESDAY
Day of upsets at Australian Open as injured Nadal exits along with Dimitrov and Svitolina
World No 1 Rafael Nadal was forced to retire from his Australian Open quarter-final against Marin Cilic and will undergo tests today to determine the severity of the leg injury he sustained yesterday.
Competing in the second men’s quarter-final on Rod Laver Arena, with Kyle Edmund awaiting the winner following his victory over third seed Grigor Dimitrov, Nadal was trailing 6-3, 3-6, 7-6, 2-6, 0-2 when he called time on the match.
“It’s difficult to know exactly what it is now,” Nadal, 31, said.
“It’s difficult to know exactly the muscle. This type of injury is difficult to know immediately.
“We need to wait a couple of hours. Tomorrow I am going to do a test, an MRI here, then we will know.”
Nadal’s retirement sent Cilic, the No 6 seed, through to his second Australian Open semi-final, his first since 2010, and sixth grand slam semi-final overall. “It was an unbelievable performance from the both of us and it is really unfortunate for Rafa.
“He’s an unbelievable competitor, always gives his best and it’s very unfortunate to finish this way for him,” Cilic, 29, said.
“When you are wounded, sometimes the balls are going in, you are a little bit looser.
“So I was really paying attention to these first couple of games, just try to keep my intensity up.
“That’s the way he has always been, always finding the way, even if he is not playing at his best level.”
The outcome of Nadal’s match with Cilic added to a day of unexpected outcomes at Melbourne Park, following Edmund’s surprise victory over Dimitrov.
British No 2 Edmund, ranked No 49 in the world, beat Bulgaria’s Dimitrov 6-4, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4.
Edmund, 23, is in unchartered territory having never advanced beyond the fourth round of a grand slam, which he has only achieved once – at the 2016 US Open.
His presence in the latter stages of a major, particularly as the last-remaining British player, has given Edmund an appreciation for the feats of compatriot, and three-time grand slam champion, Andy Murray, who has for a generation carried the tennis hopes of a nation.
“I know what it feels like to be Andy Murray for the last eight years or however long,” Edmund said of the added media attention after his win.
“Yeah, of course, it comes with the territory of playing the sport. The better you do, the more attention you get.
“It’s probably the first time I’ve done well on my own. So it is more attention there, but of course you just take it in your stride, trying to embrace it as much as possible.”
There was also a surprise result in the early women’s quarter-final match, with a struggling Elina Svitolina comfortably beaten by Belgium’s Elise Mertens.
World No 37 Mertens, competing in her first Australian Open, ran out a 6-4, 6-0 winner against the No 4 seed from Ukraine, who revealed she has been battling a hip injury throughout the tournament.
“Today was very tough for me physically,” Svitolina said.
“Going into the tournament, I had a few issues with my health.
“Yeah, it was very sad that today I was not feeling great.
“It was my hip. I started to feel it actually after the final in Brisbane. Then it was getting worse and then was up and down.”
Mertens, who will face Caroline Wozniacki in the semi-finals, was speechless after her victory.
“I’m without words, I don’t know what to say. I have mixed emotions, all good emotions,” Mertens said.
“I gave it all today, it was a little stressy at the end. I played my game and it went well.”
It’s difficult to know exactly the muscle. This type of injury is difficult to know immediately RAFAEL NADAL
Second seed Caroline Wozniacki withstood a fightback from Spain’s unseeded Carla Suarez Navarro to reach the semifinals of the Australian Open 6-0, 6-7, 6-2 last night.
“I knew it was going to be tough against her because in the first set a lot of games were very close,” said the Dane, who is into a second semi-final at Melbourne Park, after losing her first against China’s Li Na back in 2011.
“Another semi-final here, I’m excited,” she added after completing a see-saw win in 2 hours, 11 minutes.
Wozniacki will face another unseeded player, Elise Mertens of Belgium, tomorrow for a place in the final.
“She’s had a very good start to the year, she’s unbeaten I think,” she said of Mertens.
The former world No 1 has often failed to live up to the hype in the majors, but in the opening set she outplayed Suarez Navarro who was trying to become the first Spaniard to make the last four since Conchita Martinez in 2000.
Wozniacki was 100 per cent successful with service returns and had just three unforced errors in a near- perfect display over 34 minutes against the world No 39.
Her level inevitably dropped and she had to fend off a break point at the start of the second.
Suarez Navarro finally got on the board in the eighth game to prevent a dreaded “double bagel” 6-0, 6-0 scoreline.
It fired up the gritty Spaniard and she sparked the late night crowd into life by breaking Wozniacki, whose accuracy began to desert her.
“She improved and made me step behind the baseline,” Wozniacki said. “That made the difference.”
Suarez Navarro suddenly found her timing and had a break point in the next service game which the Dane saved with her sixth ace before breaking back to level at 4-4.
Serving at 4-5, Suarez Navarro – in her sixth grand slam quarter-final and third in Australia but had never progressed – saved a match point before taking it to a third on her first set point in the tie-break.
“I was disappointed after I had my chance to win in the second set,” Wozniacki said. “But I’m proud to have stayed cool and close it out in the third.”
Wozniacki regrouped and at 1-1 broke Suarez Navarro’s serve. When she repeated the dose to lead 5-2, the Spaniard’s resolve was broken and she served out at 1.38am (6.38pm UAE) in another late-night finish.