Hurt Nadal retires, joy for Edmund, Mertens
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Rafael Nadal called on tour organizers to do more to halt injuries to top players after being forced to pull out of his Australian Open quarterfinal yesterday.
The Spanish world No.1 retired with a muscle injury in his upper right leg while trailing 0-2 to former US Open champion Marin Cilic in the fifth set of a titanic quarterfinal struggle.
It is the second time he has been forced to pull out with injury in Melbourne after calling it quits in the third set of his 2010 quarterfinal against Andy Murray with a knee problem.
鈥淭ough moments. Is not the first time an opportunity that is gone for me,鈥 he told reporters. 鈥淚 am a positive person, but today is an opportunity lost to be in the semifinals of a grand slam and fight for an important title for me.
鈥淚 was playing okay. I was playing a match that anything could happen: could win, could lose. He was playing good, too,鈥 Nadal said. 鈥淏ut I was fighting for it. I was two sets to one up. Yeah, just have to accept, recover, go back home, stay with my people and keep going. That鈥檚 all.鈥
Nadal said his problem was not hip-related, more a muscle issue high up on his right leg. 鈥淚 can鈥檛 tell you exactly the muscle. It鈥檚 high on the leg. Tomorrow we鈥檙e going to communicate what鈥檚 going on after a MRI scan,鈥 he said.
Nadal said tour organizers had to do something about the growing number of injuries among players after the withdrawals of Andy Murray and Kei Nishikori before the tournament and Novak Djokovic struggling ahead of his exit on Monday.
鈥淪omebody who is running the tour should think a little bit about what鈥檚 going on. Too many people are getting injured,鈥 Nadal said. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 know if they think a little bit about the health of the players. I don鈥檛 know if we keep playing on these very hard surfaces what鈥檚 going to happen in the future with our lives.鈥
Unseeded Kyle Edmund and Elise Mertens made it to the semifinals.
Croat Cilic, the sixth seed, said it was 鈥渟ad鈥 to win in such a way but added that 鈥淚 played great tennis, very high level.鈥
鈥淪o I am extremely pleased with the performance.鈥
Cilic will be up against Britain鈥檚 Edmund, who stunned third seed Grigor Dimitrov 6-4, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4.
Mertens, who is yet to drop a set, was equally convincing in blasting past world No. 4 Elina Svitolina 6-4, 6-0 to become the first Belgian to make the semis since Kim Clijsters in 2012. She will play second-seeded Dane Caroline Wozniacki, who battled past veteran Spaniard Carla Suarez Navarro in three sets, for a place in Saturday鈥檚 final.
Edmund became only the fourth British man to reach the Australian Open semifinals in the post-1968 Open Era.
鈥淚t鈥檚 an amazing feeling. I鈥檓 very happy,鈥 said the overwhelmed 23-year-old, ranked 49. 鈥淚t was my first match on Rod Laver Arena and it鈥檚 very special.鈥
World No. 37 Mertens is on a hot streak of form, unbeaten in 10 matches after winning in Hobart this month. Svitolina blamed a hip injury for her ousting as she again failed to get to the last-four of a grand slam on her 22nd attempt.
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