Rafael Nadal seemed to be well on his way to the semifinals of the Brisbane International.
Instead, his comeback tournament was cut short.
Playing his first event since the 2023 Australian Open, Nadal squandered three match points in the second set and lost to Jordan Thompson 5-7, 7-6(6), 6-3 in a quarterfinal thriller on Friday night. Thompson set up a Saturday showdown with No. 2 seed Grigor Dimitrov after three hours and 26 minutes.
Nadal, who is returning from hip surgery and appeared to have a minor physical issue as Friday’s match progressed, came tantalizingly close to successfully building on early-round wins over Dominic Thiem and Jason Kubler. The 37-year-old had three break points to up 3-1 in the second set and–despite missing that opportunity–eventually brought up match point with Thompson serving at 4-5, 30-40. Thompson went on to fight off two more match points at 4-6 and 5-6 in the tiebreaker.
After the Aussie dramatically pulled out the ‘breaker 8-6, he seized a crucial break at 2-1 in the third. From there Thompson had no trouble serving out the match.
“I completely forgot I saved match points,” Thompson admitted. “To beat Rafa at home in Brisbane in a quarterfinal…. I think it’s my first semifinal on a hard court, as well. I couldn’t be happier.”
The world No. 55 now faces Dimitrov, who disposed of Rinky Hijikata 6-1, 6-4. In the top half of the bracket the other semifinal pits top-seeded Holger Rune against Roman Safiullin. Rune defeated James Duckworth 6-2, 7-6(6); Safiullin ousted Matteo Arnaldi 7-6(4), 6-2.
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tough one
Fantastic tennis in that 2nd set….thrilling tennis on tv.
Jordan Thompson very good Aussie defensive player , as is Dimenaur.
But ,still Id never have bet a penny on either of them beating Nole/Nada this strange week.
Nice change to see tennis from Hong Kong and Jerry doing so well
Just heard Rafa pulled out of the AO
Is this true?
It is.😪😪
He suffered a new muscle tear revealed by MRI scan. Apparently he grabbed at area in second set which explains all the errors as he must have been really freaked out. It’s in the same area,as the hip injury so his initial fear was that it was that again which would have been disastrous.
Obviously this isn’t great but not as bad.
Not exactly a good omen for the rest of this year.😪😪
BS. Watching Dimitrov and Rune gave him a muscle tear.
Not good, when they were saying how well he was playing and made the right decision to wait until he was ready to come back.
No not good at all. He’s 38 in a few months so have to wonder how much he has left physically.
Sorry didn’t mean that moniker to come up!
Just read on G website Rafa has withdrawn from AO. So sorry Amy and other Rafa fans, a touch of the Andy’s I’m afraid, us Andy fans, know what it’s like. :(.
Thanks Margot! Am pretty devastated right now. It’s the hope that kills!😪
Dunno how you stand it as an Andy fan….
I’ve given up on Andy! Time he properly retired! Not that its any of my business what he chooses to do, of course.
Also finding I’m a lot less interested in tennis these days.
The golden age is coming to an end obviously. I never take Murray seriously these days yeah should retire. Djoko has couple more years at most
And I stopped being a big fan of one particular player a long time ago too disappointing
I take it you mean Fed?? Should never have lost the 2019 wimby final to Novak. Was much the better player. Choked in the tiebreak s. Novak said he raised his level for tbs but real story was that Fed made loads of ues…
Amusing how some players can’t handle the thought of losing
It’s all good when you’re shitting on other people but when the roles are reversed “nah, not happening” lol
Ricky congratulates evey player that wins but when Nadal loses “tough one” lol
He’s more special than everyone else.
I think Andy should retire as well. Don’t think he will though.
This was a reply to Margot!
Yes I had Fed in mind but now prefer to like several players inc Djoko.. That final was hugely disappointing though the way he lost it .
Yes he definitely did choke it imo. Got very tight in tbs. Was miles better player throughout rest of match.
I don’t know that Fed having huge crowd support helped him sometimes. Sometimes seemed to put pressure on him.
I still think Fed really should have won wimby in 2019. Played amazing level of tennis quality of which was much higher than level Novak showed.
Yeah well two championship points on serve.No excuse really
And I forgot it was Nadal he beat in the semis. Sometimes a match like that can seem like the ‘real’ final then a letdown comes next match