Rafael Nadal is continuing to gain momentum in his return to professional tennis after booking his place in the quarter-finals of the Brisbane International on Thursday.
Nadal, who is playing in his first tournament in almost a year, powered his way to a 6-1, 6-2, win over Australian world No.102 Jason Kubler who took two medical timeouts for treatment on his forearm. The former world No.1 didn’t drop his serve throughout the match as he broke his opponent four times. Overall, he hit a total of 20 winners against eight unforced errors.
“I think I started the match playing very well with a very good determination,” Nadal said during his on-court interview.
“I saw videos of Jason before the match and I saw him play pretty solid from the baseline. So I came on court and tried to be aggressive with my shots from the baseline and it worked very well.” He added.
Nadal’s victory follows up on his first round win against Dominic Thiem which was also in straight sets. This week is the first time he is playing an ATP-level event since last year’s Australian Open where he lost in the second round. He has been sidelined by a hip injury in recent months which he underwent surgery on last summer.
“Two victories after a long time of being out of the professional Tour is something that makes me feel good,” Nadal commented.
“I need matches, I need health, I need to keep practising well and of course, the last two matches help. Even the doubles too.
“For me, every day that I have a chance to play is great news. I’m happy that I came back after a long time and I feel myself competitively. That is all that I want and let’s see how far I can go.”
During his clash with Kubler, the 22-time Grand Slam winner did received a code violation after taking longer than the designated five-minute toilet break between sets. Something that he later disputed.
“I think that was something strange because I knew I had five minutes. Brisbane is very humid and I had to change every single piece (of clothing).” He said.
“I came out at the right time but probably the guy who was with me told that umpire that I was four seconds late, I don’t know. I thought I was on time.’
“I’m slow I know but I’m going to keep trying to improve on that in 2024.”
Awaiting Nadal in the last eight will be another Australian in the shape of Jordan Thompson. Thompson received a walkover in his second round match after fourth seed Ugo Humbert withdrew from the tournament due to illness.
Nadal has become only the third player in history to have scored at least 1070 wins on the ATP Tour after Roger Federer and Jimmy Connors. This week is the 225th time in his career that he has reached at least the quarter-final stage of an ATP event.
Elsewhere, three-time champion Grigor Dimitrov became the first man to win a 20th match in Brisbane after storming to a 6-1, 6-2, win over Germany’s Daniel Altmaier. The second seed will next play Rinky Hijikata and could play Nadal in the semi-finals if both players reach that stage.
