Tennis will waste no time shifting in high gear for the new year. Jan. 1 will see Rafael Nadal and Stan Wawrinka kick off their campaigns at the Mubadala World Tennis Championship in Abu Dhabi.
The prestigious six-man event is an annual preseason showcase featuring the top players in the world. This year’s field also includes David Ferrer, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Kevin Anderson, and Milos Raonic.
Nadal and Wawrinka received byes to the semifinals as the top two seeds, while the quarterfinal draw pit Ferrer against Tsonga and Anderson against Raonic. Ferrer trounced Tsonga 6-1, 6-1 on Thursday afternoon to set up an all-Spanish showdown with Nadal on Friday. The 33-year-old needed only 54 minutes to dispose of Tsonga, who dropped serve three times in the opening set and twice in the second. Ferrer took control right from the start and managed to maintain it the whole way thanks in part to a hold from 0-40 down at 2-0 in the second set. The world No. 7 had previously broken for 2-0 even though Tsonga led 40-0 in that game, as well. Ferrer pushed his lead to 6-1, 5-0 before the Frenchman finally got back on the scoreboard with a rare hold.
Nadal is a two-time champion of this lucrative tournament, having triumphed in 2009-10 and 2010-11. The two most recent winners are not in attendance for the 2015-16 installment. Novak Djokovic captured the title three straight years before Andy Murray was the last man standing in 2014-15. No other player has even won the event, as Murray also came out on top at the first-ever Mubadala World Tennis Championship (2008-09).
For Friday’s other semifinal, Wawrinka awaits either Anderson or Raonic.
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