Nadal’s comeback halted by Australian Thompson in Brisbane amid injury worries

Rafael Nadal suffered the first defeat on his comeback from injury as he was beaten 5-7, 7-6 (6), 6-3 by Australian Jordan Thompson in the quarter-finals of the Brisbane International on Friday.

Nadal had three match points in the second set and took a medical timeout for a lerft thigh/groin issue midway through the third as he was eventually ground down by Thompson, the world No 55, who sealed a famous win after three hours, 25 minutes.

“It was something special,” said Thompson, who will play Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov, the second seed, next. “I completely forgot I saved match points. To beat Rafa at home in Brizzie, I think it’s my first hard-court semi-final too, I couldn’t be happier.”

Nadal misses three match points

Thompson broke first, for 4-3 in the first set, rushing Nadal with his returns but the Spaniard hit straight back, levelling at 4-4 and then at 6-5, grabbing a second break to take the opener.

Just as in his first two wins in what is his first tournament for a year, due to a serious hip psoas injury which required surgery, the 22-time Grand Slam champion was playing well, dominating from the baseline and generally bossing the match.

At 5-4 in the second set, he had a chance to finish it when he earned a match point on the Thompson serve, only to net a difficult high backhand volley. Thompson fought well, keeping the set alive and taking it to a tiebreak but at 6-4, Nadal looked set to finish it off.

But he couldn’t take either of the match points and Thompson snatched the set to force a decider.

Nadal has medical timeout

Not surprisingly, after so much time away from the court, Nadal looked a little jaded as the third set began and he was broken by Thompson, the Australia then holding to lead 4-1.

Nadal called the trainer and left the court for treatment and what seemed an issue in his upper left thigh/groin area, but he returned to the court and continued to fight.

Thompson held his nerve well, though, and served out for victory on his first match point after winning the longest rally of the entire match.

Earlier in the tournament, the Australian won against Aleksandar Vukic (6-3, 6-2) and Frenchman Ugo Humbert, the No 4 seed (W/O).

Nadal defeated Austrian qualifier Dominic Thiem (7-5, 6-1) and Australian wildcard Jason Kubler (6-1, 6-2) in the previous rounds of the Brisbane tournament.

Brisbane ATP 250, other quarter-finals results (Queensland Tennis Centre, USD 661.585, most recent results first):

• Grigor Dimitrov beat Rinky Hijikata (WC): 6-1, 6-4
• Holger Rune (1) beat James Duckworth (Q): 6-2, 7-6 (6)
• Roman Safiullin beat Matteo Arnaldi: 7-6 (4), 6-2