Edmund’s rise is no surprise for Nadal

Rafael Nadal was tested hard before joining Kyle edmund in the australian Open quarter-finals, and then stated that it was no shock to see the englishman in the last eight.

edmund pushed Nadal hard when they met at the Monte Carlo Open in april last year, having a break point to pull ahead of him in a deciding set at a tournament he usually dominates.

‘Oh, he’s good. He’s a good player, and for me it’s not a surprise,’ said Nadal, who was made to work hard before seeing off diminutive argentinian diego Schwartzman 6-3, 6-7, 6-3, 6-3 in three hours and 51 minutes.

‘It’s a normal thing for me. It was a little bit more surprising for me last year that Kyle lost a lot of close matches. I really believe in his potential. He has a huge serve, huge forehand, and he hits the ball very strong. So I really think he’s going to have a great year.’

Nadal ( right) rarely gets pushed as much as he was by Schwartzman in what were humid, rather than burning hot conditions. Given that the Spaniard did not play a warm-up event and had been out of action since mid-November with knee problems, his stamina may be more questionable than normal.

It does not get any easier now as his opponent will be sixth seed Marin Cilic, who put out Spain’s Pablo Carreno Busta 6-7, 6-3, 7-6, 7-6.

The australian Open does not do a bumper ‘Magic Monday’ like Wimbledon, and in the remaining four matches of the last 16 being played today, Roger federer was due to take on Hungarian outsider Marton fucsovics, while Novak djokovic’s opponent was Korea’s Hyeon Chung.

In the women’s singles yesterday second seed Caroline Wozniacki underlined her status as one of the favourites when beating surprise Wimbledon semi-finalist Magdalena Rybarikova 6-3, 6-0, winning 11 of the last 12 games.

‘after being match point down in the second round it feels like I have nothing to lose,’ said Wozniacki.