Injured Nadal bows out to Cilic in quarterfinals

MELBOURNE, Australia — One point after his medical timeout in the fourth set, Rafael Nadal went to the rear of the court to squat and do a knee-raise, trying to stretch out his injured right leg.

Three games later — one point after his subsequent visit from the trainer — Nadal had to delay Marin Cilic’s serve while trying to walk out the pain at the start of the fifth set.

After limping and wincing through two more games, and after failing to fend off a sixth break point, the 16-time major champion was out of the Australian Open.

The sixth-seeded Cilic advanced to his first semifinal in Australia since 2010 with a 3-6, 6-3, 6-7 (5), 6-2, 2-0 victory Tuesday. He will next play 49th-ranked Kyle Edmund, who beat third-ranked Grigor Dimitrov 6-4, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 to reach a Grand Slam semifinal for the first time.

On Wednesday, Hyeon Chung reached the semifinals of a Grand Slam for the first time, following up his upset victory over six-time Australian Open champion Novak Djokovic in the fourth round with a 6-4, 7-6 (5), 6-3 win over Tennys Sandgren.

The No. 58-ranked Chung is the first Korean player to reach the last four of a major, and the lowest-ranked man to reach the Australian Open semifinals since Marat Safin in 2004.

On the women’s side, Angelique Kerber was the only major champion to reach the quarterfinals.

Kerber breezed through her quarterfinal match Wednesday, besting American Madison Keys 6-1, 6-2 to reach the semifinals.

No. 35-ranked Elise Mertens upset fourthseeded Elina Svitolina 6-4, 6-0 to extend her winning streak to 10 matches.

Up next for her is second-ranked Caroline Wozniacki, who finished off a 6-0, 6-7 (3), 6-2 win over Carla Suarez Navarro.

Wozniacki, who is still chasing her first Grand Slam title, can also return to No. 1 for the first time in six years depending on results in Melbourne.