Nadal defeated in quarterfinal
MELBOURNE, Australia — Rafael Nadal has joined Roger Federer on the sidelines at the Australian Open, taking their combined 31 Grand Slam singles titles with them.
On the women’s side, second-seeded Maria Sharapova, who beat Eugenie Bouchard on Tuesday, and Ekaterina Makarova are still around and will play an all-Russian semifinal.
Nadal’s lack of match fitness from nearly six months of injuries and illness finally caught up with the 14-time major champion in his quarterfinal match against Tomas Berdych. He was never much of a factor and lost 6-2, 6-0, 7-6 (5).
The third-seeded Nadal said before the tournament that his inactivity over the last half of 2014 made him unlikely to win more than a few rounds. Coming into the Australian Open, Nadal had played only eight matches since last June because of a right wrist injury and appendix surgery in November.
Federer, who has 17 major titles, including four in Australia, departed Melbourne Park after an upset third-round loss to Andrea Seppi.
Nadal said he was surprised to have advanced as far as he did in Melbourne.
“It is obvious that I needed something more to be more competitive,” Nadal said. “As I said when I arrived here, the process always is not easy. When you have injuries, comebacks are difficult. But without being at my top level of tennis, I was able to be here in quarterfinals. Is not a bad result at all for me.”
Berdych said, “I was ready for everything and I think that was the difference ... when you’re playing Rafa you have to keep going to the last point.”
The seventh-seeded Berdych, who had lost 17 straight matches to Nadal, will play sixth-seeded Andy Murray in the semifinals after the British player beat local hope Nick Kyrgios 6-3, 7-6 (5), 6-3 in a night match.
Kyrgios came back from two sets down and saved a match point in the fourth round Sunday before beating Italian Andreas Seppi, the player who had eliminated Federer, but there was no such comeback on Tuesday.
The 19-year-old Kyrgios, who walked onto the court with his headphones on and gave two thumbs-up to the crowd, was at his crowd-pleasing best. After hitting a backhanded drop shot at the net for winner in the second set, he spread out his arms for applause, and in the third set, he hit a between-the-legs shot that Murray easily returned.
“It was a tricky match,” Murray said. “I tried to start as quick as possible because I know how dangerous Nick is. He’s a huge hitter of the ball, so I tried to keep it out of his strike zone as much as possible. Thankfully it worked.”
Sharapova moved closer to another Australian Open title, defeating 20-year-old Bouchard 6-3, 6-2.The Russian made all the big points look easy and advanced to play Makarova, who earlier beat third-seeded Simona Halep 6-4, 6-0.
“I felt pretty good from the start, didn’t feel I had too many letdowns,” Sharapova said, adding that her close call in the second round — facing two match points against a qualifier — sharpened her focus for the rest of the tournament.