MELBOURNE: Rafa Nadal’s Australian Open run ended abruptly in the quarter-finals on Tuesday when injury forced the top seed to retire in the fifth set against Croatia’s Marin Cilic.

The Spanish world number one struggled with a muscle strain in his thigh from late in the fourth set before abandoning the match at 3-6, 6-3, 6-7 (5-7), 6-2, 2-0, retiring for only the second time in more than 250 Grand Slam matches.

Nadal’s only other retirement at a grand slam came in the 2010 quarter-finals in Melbourne against Andy Murray and the world number one complained that too many players getting injured.

“Somebody who is running the tour should think a little bit about what’s going on,” he said. “Not for now that we are playing, but there is life after tennis.

“I don’t know if we keep playing in these very, very hard surfaces what’s going to happen in the future with our lives.”

Cilic’s victory sent him through to his second Australian Open semi-final in eight years, where the Croatian sixth seed will face 49th-ranked Briton Kyle Edmund.

Edmund bludgeoned his way to a shock 6-4, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 victory over third seed Grigor Dimitrov, showing no nerves in his first Grand Slam quarter-final as he blazed away with his fearsome forehand.

“It’s an amazing feeling. I’m very happy,” said the overwhelmed 23-year-old. “It was my first match on Rod Laver Arena and it’s very special.”

In the women’s draw, Belgian Elise Mertens pulled off a huge upset by trouncing fourth seed Elina Svitolina 6-4, 6-0 to extend her winning streak to 10 matches, becoming the first Belgian since Kim Clijsters in 2012 to reach the semi-finals here.

The 22-year-old Mertens, who trains at Clijsters’ academy, said: “Kim, thanks for watching. I’m trying to be in your footsteps this week.”

Svitolina blamed a hip injury for her shock ousting as she again failed to get to the last-four of a Grand Slam on her 22nd attempt.

Up next for Mertens is second-ranked Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark.

Wozniacki made the semis for the first time since 2011, overcoming familiar foe Suarez Navarro 6-0, 6-7 (3-7), 6-2 as she inched closer to a first-ever Grand Slam title after a decade of trying.

“I’m proud I managed to stay cool and finish it off in the third set,” she said. “I had a little bit more energy than she did.”

Tuesday’s results (prefix number denotes seeding):

Men’s singles:

Quarter-finals: 6-Marin Cilic (Croatia) bt 1-Rafael Nadal (Spain) 3-6, 6-3, 6-7 (5-7), 6-2, 2-0 — Nadal retired; Kyle Edmund (Great Britain) bt 3-Grigor Dimitrov (Bulgaria) 6-4, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4.

Women’s singles:

Quarter-finals: Elise Mertens (Belgium) bt 4-Elina Svitolina (Ukraine) 6-4, 6-0; 2-Caroline Wozniacki (Denmark) bt Carla Suarez Navarro (Spain) 6-0, 6-7 (3-7), 6-2.

Published in Dawn, January 24th, 2018