Tennis:Injured top seed and world number one Rafa Nadal was knocked out of the Australian Open quarter-finals 6-4 6-2 6-3 by fellow Spaniard David Ferrer today. The 24-year-old, who was aiming to become the third man to hold all four grand slam titles at one time, was clearly hampered by injury from the third game of the first set.
Nadal, the 2009 Melbourne champion, took an early medical timeout after appearing to tweak his left hamstring, shaking his head as he trudged off Rod Laver Arena. The nine-times grand slam champion returned with his thigh strapped but was clearly in pain, wincing and muttering to his uncle and coach Toni.
Seventh seed Ferrer, who had lost 11 of his previous 14 meetings with Nadal, including the last seven, showed no mercy, ripping shots to all corners to keep the pressure on. A tortured Nadal slumped in his seat with his head in his hands after another thumping forehand down the line gave Ferrer a two-set lead.
Moments later, he was choking back tears after Ferrer tore into a 3-0 lead in the third but he battled like a true champion to get on the board, even forcing a break point at 4-2 down. However, Ferrer kept his nerve and closed out the quarter-final with another big forehand after two hours and 33 minutes.
"It's not easy because Rafa is a gentleman and he played with injury as we are friendly," Ferrer, who will play fifth seed Andy Murray in the semi-final, said in a courtside interview. "I played aggressive, I tried to go to the net, but if Rafael was not injured, I wouldn't have won in three sets."
"It's one big (achievement) for me but it's not a victory really. These last two weeks have been unbelievable. I will try to do my best to win a slam."
Nadal’s defeat makes Murray’s path to the final more straightforward after the Scot Andy Murray moved into the last four earlier today. Murray, who accounted for Alexandr Dolgopolov in four sets, looked a touch vulnerable when he dropped his first set of the tournament but found another gear when it mattered to come through 7-5 6-3 6-7 (3/7) 6-3 in three hours and six minutes.
He had been expected to meet Nadal but will now meet David Ferrer instead and will need to raise his game if he is to prevail.
“It was very tough,” Murray said afterwards. “Every point against him is different, he hits the ball differently to everyone else, it’s tough to explain. I struggled with my rhythm early on and he came back in the third set but I thought I did well enough.”
Dolgopolov, the world number 46 who beat Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Robin Soderling in his previous two matches, had numerous opportunities to take a grip on the match but too often let Murray off the hook with moments of carelessness, a trait he will have to eradicate is he is to make the most of his undoubted potential.
Kim Clijsters earlier got a lift from an Australia Day flypast to come through her own sticky patch and beat Agnieszka Radwanska 6-3 7-6, setting up a last four meeting with Vera Zvonareva after the Russian beat Petra Kvitova 6-2 6-4.
In the absence of injured 2010 champion Serena Williams, third seed Clijsters is favourite to win her first Australian Open crown this year even if she has not been at her best since the first round 6-0 6-0 drubbing of Dinara Safina.
The 27-year-old Belgian hustled and bustled her way through the opening set in less than half an hour and took a 4-2 lead in the second before allowing Radwanska back into the contest with a slew of unforced errors.
The 12th seed won four straight games to put herself on the brink of levelling the match when she served for the set at 5-4, just as an aerobatics team started flying low and loud over the Rod Laver Arena in celebration of the national holiday.
Both knew that this was a key point in the match and slugged it out through 12 lengthy points but Radwanska blew her chance and Clijsters regathered herself, going on to win the tiebreak 7-4 with a clubbed backhand.
The three-times US Open champion will probably have to raise her game for the semi-final against Zvonareva, whose win over Kvitova was also disrupted by Australia Day celebrations when a 21-gun salute boomed out over the city.
Wearing a black ribbon on her visor in memory of the victims of Monday's bombing at Moscow airport, Zvonareva was a class above the Czech. An aggressive Zvonareva clipped through the first set in 29 minutes and was 3-0 up in the second when Kvitova got onto the front foot, slugging her way back into the contest at 3-3.
Zvonareva, however, is determined to prove she can win a grand slam this year and ultimately went through a comfortable winner when Kvitova overcooked a forehand after 75 minutes.