Yesterday Rafa Nadal expressed a desire for some ‘adversity’ as he prepared for this year’s Australian Open, and that is exactly what he got when he faced Jordan Thompson in the quarter finals of the Brisbane International warm-up event for the season’s opening grand slam tournament.
In what is only Nadal’s third match back on the tour following hip surgery from an injury picked up in Melbourne last year, the three-set loss to the Australian could be seen as a blow to his comeback, especially as he had three match points to close it out in the second set.
But local favourite Thompson, dug deep to save them and in so doing, turned the match on its head to prevail 5-7 7-6(6) 6-3 after three-hours and 25-minutes of powerful play.
Thompson broke the 37-year-old Nadal in the fourth game of the final set and was 4-1 up when the Spaniard left the court on a medical timeout which hopefully is not related to the injury which sidelined him for nearly a year.
He held his own on his return but just couldn’t get back on serve as Thompson held his nerve to score a memorable win, to the delight of the home crowd.
“To beat Rafa in Brisbane in quarter finals, I think this is my first semi-finals on a hard court as well,” Thompson said. “I could not be happier.”
Dimitrov, the second seed who eliminated Andy Murray in the first round, is up next for Thompson following the Bulgarian’s 6-1 6-4 quarter-final victory over Australian Rinky Hijikata.
The other semi-final on Saturday will see world number eight Holger Rune, the top seed, facing Russia’s Roman Safiullin, after their respective quarter-final wins against Aussie qualifier James Duckworth (6-2 7-6(6)) and Italy’s Matteo Arnaldi (7-6(4) 6-2).
Rafael Nadal receives treatment in his match against Jordan Thompson
(Photo by Chris Hyde/Getty Images)
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