Melbourne (January 22, 2018): Marin Cilic will play Kyle Edmund in the semi-finals of the Australian Open on tuesday after Rafael Nadal retired during the deciding set of their clash with a hip problem.
Sixteen Time grand slam winner Nadal saved five breakpoints in the last game before Cilic broke his serve, then Nadal went to shake hands with the umpire and his opponent, and angrily hurled his headband into his equipment bag.
No. 6-seeded Cilic advanced to his first semifinal in Australia since 2010 with a score of 3-6, 6-3, 6-7 (5), 6-2, 2-0, retired.
Cilic, the 2014 U.S. Open champion, will next play No. 49-ranked Kyle Edmund, who earlier beat No. 3-ranked Grigor Dimitrov 6-4, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 to reach a Grand Slam semifinal for the first time.
On Tuesday night, he needed a medical timeout after going down 4-1 in the fourth set, getting treatment on his upper right leg and hip.
Nadal returned but was clearly bothered by the injury, limping and trying to stretch between points.
He called the trainer again after the fourth set, and lasted only two more games before finishing the 3-hour, 47-minute match.
Cilic had only previously beaten Nadal once in their six previous matches.
Nadal had a delayed start to the season because of an injured right knee, but appeared to be in good form through the first four rounds.
Now the top-ranked hasn’t won back-to-back Australian Open quarterfinals since 2008 and ’09 — the year he won his only title at Melbourne Park.
Roger Federer, who beat Nadal in five sets last year, is playing Tomas Berdych in a quarterfinal on Wednesday.
On top of that, six-time champion Novak Djokovic was upset in the fourth round on Monday by Hyeon Chung.
There’ll be a British man in the Australian Open semifinals for the seventh time in nine years, but it won’t be Murray who skipped the season-opening tournament to have surgery on his hip.
Edmund had never played in a major quarterfinal, had never won five consecutive matches at tour level, had lost both of his previous matches against Dimitrov and had never beaten a top five player.
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