Nadal and Murray suffer blows at Brisbane International
Rafael Nadal has pulled out of this week’s Brisbane International due to a left thigh problem, with the Spaniard saying he did not want to risk an injury ahead of this month’s Australian Open.
The world No 2 endured an injury-plagued 2018 season that saw him contest only nine tournaments due to hip, knee, abdomen and ankle injuries.
The 32-year-old Spaniard also withdrew from his thirdplace play-off at the Mubadala World Tennis Championship in Abu Dhabi last Saturday against Karen Khachenov as a precaution.
Nadal announced his withdrawal from that game hours after his 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 defeat to defending Mubadala champion Kevin Anderson, his first competitive tennis since retiring against Juan Martin del Potro in their US Open semi-final last September. Nadal underwent ankle surgery two months later.
Nadal, who was due to face Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the second round in Brisbane today, said: “It’s a small thing that can become a much bigger. When you compete the intensity on the muscle it can get worse. I feel better than I did four days ago.”
Russia’s Daniil Medvedev showed Andy Murray just how much work he still has to do, when he beat the former world No 1 in straight sets in Brisbane.
Murray is making a comeback to the sport after a disastrous 2018, during which he played just six tournaments and was out of the game for 11 months with a hip injury.
He had a comfortable firstround win over James Duckworth but found the step up in class too much against Medvedev, the 22-year-old Russian cruising to a 7-5, 6-2 win in just 80 minutes.
“In the second set I made a few too many mistakes, and obviously there was a period in the match from 5-5 where I lost six games in a row,” Murray said. “And I think when you obviously play better players, they will expose any errors that you make in your game or any shots that you’re not hitting particularly well. And he did that tonight.”
Medvedev will meet Canada’s Milos Raonic in the quarter-finals. The huge-serving Raonic fired down 21 aces in his 6-3, 7-6 win over Serbian qualifier Miomir Kecmanovic.
Earlier, Japanese star Kei Nishikori eased past American Denis Kudla 7-5, 6-2.
Nishikori will now play sixth seed Grigor Dimitrov in the quarter-finals, a rematch of the 2017 final won by the Bulgarian.
Dimitrov played some sublime tennis to down local favourite John Millman 6-3, 6-4.
Nishikori was joined in the quarter-finals by fellow countryman Yasutaka Uchiyama, who stunned British No 1 Kyle Edmund 7-6, 6-4.
Uchiyama, 26, is playing just his fifth tournament on the ATP World Tour and now takes on Frenchman Jeremy Chardy in the quarter-finals.
Chardy came back from losing the first set to beat Australian Nick Kyrgios 6-7, 6-2, 6-3.
After an even first set, Chardy’s game picked up while Kyrgios’ fell away. He will now fall out of the top 50 for the first time since 2014